Portland, Oregon, lies approximately seventy miles inland from the Pacific. Its population is half a million. However, when nearby Vancouver and southwest Washington are included, metropolitan Portland can claim nearly three times that number. The area's population has grown almost 20% since 1980, and expansion is expected to continue.
Despite this recent growth, Portland retains a distinctively small town atmosphere, and analysts living there find family life very good indeed. Noted for its outdoor recreation—excellent fishing, hiking, and skiing—the city also boasts a ballet, an opera, a symphony, and an art museum. The weather is fairly predictable. The rainy season, during which there is almost daily precipitation, runs from October through June. Summers are extremely pleasant.
Until recently, the economy was strong. Timber, grain, and shipping created a robust, diversified economy, with high tech industries also gaining a foothold. Unfortunately, the timber industry has suffered a severe setback due to environmental conflicts over the endangered spotted owl, and today the Portland area is considered economically depressed.
The outlook for psychoanalysis in Portland is mixed. The good news is that there is a strong sense of collegiality among the fourteen graduate analysts in the area. All are members of the Oregon Psychoanalytic Study Croup, which meets twice monthly for scientific and business meetings. Several members are on the faculty of the Seattle Institute for Psychoanalysis, located 180 miles to the north. In the meantime, the Study Group is working to develop a local institute under the auspices of The American. Although this is in the preliminary stages, Siegfried Berthelsdorf, the only training analyst in Portland, says there is need for at least one more.
The bad news is that competition for patients is very high. The psychotherapeutic community in Portland is currently dominated by counselors, psychologists, and social workers, and the community is still relatively unsophisticated in differentiating psychoanalysts from general psychiatrists and these other therapists. As a result, it is not easy to develop a psychoanalytic practice, and only two or three Portland analysts can report that half of their practice is psychoanalytic.
For those interested in teaching psychiatric residents, the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland offers a residency program. Although OHSU is not psychoanalytically oriented, Portland analysts are gaining ground, and most have clinical appointments there. Finally, it should be noted that in Oregon medical licensure is not tied to Medicare, as in some other states. State licensing exams are required, as National Boards are not deemed sufficient.
Despite the current economic downturn and marked competition for patients, analysts in Portland say they are happy to be living and working there. They also seem especially excited and challenged by the prospect of forming their own institute. In this connection, several said they were particularly interested in enticing a training analyst or two to move to the area.