On January 4 of this year a delegation of prominent psychiatrists led by Joseph T. English met in the Vatican with Pope John Paul II. Dr. English, head of psychiatry at St. Vincent's in New York City, is currently president of the American Psychiatric Association. He and his successor, APA president-elect John S. McIntyre, are both Catholic, as am I. Other Catholics prominent in the field today include the president, president-elect, and secretary general of the World Psychiatric Association. The times seemed propitious, then, for attempts to reduce the tensions between Freudian psychiatry and psychoanalysis, on the one hand, and the Church on the other. I was therefore pleased to be included in the delegation, as were Melvin Sabshin, Carolyn Rabinowitz, Ethel Person, and her husband. However, the Sunday New York Times for January 3, in announcing the next day's papal audience and listing the Catholics involved, mentioned that of the prominent Catholic psychiatrists “all but Dr. Pacella will be in the delegation meeting with the Pope.” As a result, I received many phone calls and letters asking why I had not attended. For the record, I wish to state emphatically that I had agreed to go with the delegation to Rome, eagerly awaited the meeting with the Pope, and considered it extremely important. Unfortunately, I came down with a prolonged and severe bout of the flu, with ear complications, and was strongly advised by my physician and otologist not to fly.
As the Times noted, the aim of this meeting was to help reduce the stigma attached to the mentally ill and to those seeking psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and to encourage public support for such care. Dr. English, in his presentation to the Pope, touched also on “the abuses of psychiatry in persecuting political dissidents” and supported the Church's efforts “to end racial and ethnic bigotry and religious justifications for nationalist violence in Eastern Europe.” In organizing and undertaking this visit to the Pope, Dr. English has made a major contribution to the mental health professions, and to an easing of tensions between the Church and organized psychoanalysis. I deeply regret that illness prevented my attendance.
Preliminary reports have been presented by the task forces operating under the Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Planning, chaired by Morris Peltz, ably assisted by Owen Renik and Richard Fox. Included are the Task Forces on Membership and Organization (chaired by Fox); Board-Council Relationships and Structure (Carl Davis and Bob Pyles, co-chairs); and Relations between the Association for Child Psychoanalysis and The American (chaired by Peltz). The committee and its Task Forces were originally called into being as joint “think tanks” of Board and Council to reexamine our organizational structure and to recommend changes or suggest alternatives. They are to complete their work by May 1994.
Members of the task forces have underscored the idea that the component societies and the committees of Council should play more active roles and that these should be better coordinated. To this end I have appointed a Committee on Societies (COS), with Ralph Engle of Boston as chair and Allan Rosenblatt as co-chair. One of its main functions will be to act as a “referral committee” through which the Executive Committee can refer issues to the component societies for their consideration. COS will then collate and organize their replies, and submit the results to Council and the Executive Committee. COS will also maintain a continuing liaison with the Board's Committee on Affiliate Societies (COAS).
Another effort toward better coordination is a plan now under way to establish regular meetings with the chairs of Council committees during the March and October meetings of the Executive Committee and the Board's Coordinating Committee. Until now the procedure has been for the Executive Committee to meet Friday evening and Sunday morning, and perhaps for an hour or two Sunday afternoon. The Coordinating Committee meets with the Executive Committee all day Saturday until about five. However, at the last meeting, the Board chair agreed to complete the Saturday session between three and four to allow one or two Council committee chairs to meet with the Executive Committee. The Board committees are extremely well organized and spend a great deal of time preparing their reports. A similar style of work should be adopted by Council committees. It is my hope, and I am sure that of the Board also, that the committee chairs of Board and Council can meet jointly at some point to share each other's work and thinking.
In another development, Allan Rosenblatt, as the new chair of the Joint Committee on External Credentialing, has moved swiftly to explore further the feasibility of developing, in collaboration with other high-level psychoanalytic organizations, a credentialing body independent of The American. It is to be noted that the creation of such a credentialing body would in no way preclude The American's own credentialing functions. Dr. Rosenblatt has also done extensive work, in collaboration with Dr. Renik, in building up a file of those interested in joining the various committees, with a note made of each person's geographical area, society and institute, and other committee assignments. This will be an invaluable aid in selecting members for committees and task forces. I urge the leadership of the component societies and institutes to send Rosenblatt and Renik the names of those willing to work on specific committees.