Analysts from around the country will gather in the nation's capital for the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. While Washington boasts an impressive array of museums, monuments, restaurants, and cultural activities, the Scientific Program promises to be equally alluring.
The four panel offerings will begin on Friday afternoon with the popular Classics Revisited series. Three panelists—Robert Michels, Vann Spruiell, and Jule Miller—will discuss Heinz Kohut's The Analysis of the Self. The panel will be chaired by Steven Levy and reported by Salley Jesse. Panel II, on Saturday morning, is entitled The Experience of Surprise in Analytic Work and will be chaired by Ernest Kafka. The presenters are Robert Gillman, Estelle Shane, and Henry Smith, with Dale Boesky as discussant. The reporter will be Eric Marcus.
Panel III, also on Saturday morning, addresses a common clinical problem in contemporary analytic practice: Analyzing the “Unanalyzable” Patient: Implications for Technique. Chaired by Judith Chused, the panel will feature Donald Cohen, Scott Dowling, Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, and Martin Willick as presenters. Stephen Rosenblum will serve as reporter. The fourth and final panel, on Sunday morning, features the topic Stalemates in the Analysis and will be chaired by Robert Wallerstein. The presenters are Owen Renik, Evelyne Albrecht Schwaber, and Howard Welsh. Donald Spence will discuss the panel, and Stanley Coen will report.
The Scientific Program officially begins Friday morning with a Plenary Address by Jacob Jacobson entitled “Signal Affects and Our Psychoanalytic Confusion of Tongues.” Friday afternoon Jacob Arlow and Evelyne Albrecht Schwaber will offer their points of view in what promises to be a stimulating psychoanalytic dialogue: Perspectives on the Clinical Value of Countertransference. Robert Tyson will chair. The increasing attention devoted to countertransference is reflected also in the choice of books designated for the Meet-the-Author series. Theodore Jacobs's The Use of the Self will be discussed by Harold Blum and Arnold Cooper, with Sydney Pulver as chair.
Each meeting of The American features a Seminar for Psychoanalysts designed to acquaint members with research relevant to psychoanalysis. At this meeting Joseph Lichtenberg will chair a session featuring Michael Lewis on the subject Infant Research on Shame. The Film Program will present several rarely seen films of Freud and his family (see sidebar) and a two-session workshop on political extremism.
As usual, three Two-Day Clinical Workshops are included in the program. The first is part of a series coordinated by Henry Smith on Process and Technique. This year Leo Rangell will chair. The other Two-Day Workshops are Basic Psychopharmacology for Analysts, with Steven Roose presenting, and Psychoanalysis and Psychopharmacology: A Working Alliance, Harold Wylie presenting.
The Psychoanalytic Forum, designed for associate and affiliate members, will feature Jacob Arlow speaking on Changing Perspectives in Psychoanalytic Technique. The traditional Oral History Workshop will discuss Psychoanalysis at St. Elizabeths Hospital and will be chaired jointly by Milton Engel and Christopher T. Bever. Special programs will be presented for psychiatric residents and graduate students in psychology and social work. Organized by Melvin Bornstein and Paula Bernstein, these programs will revolve around the theme The Value of Psychoanalytic Principles in Psychotherapy.
Because of the growing number of discussion groups, the Program Committee has doubled the number of time slots at the Washington meeting from two to four on both Wednesday and Thursday to allow members to attend more sessions. Those who still have the time and energy may wish to take in the Hirshhorn, the Smithsonian, the National Zoological Park, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the many other attractions that Washington offers.