In an election held late last year, Marvin Margolis was chosen president-elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The membership selected Margolis, who has chaired the Board on Professional Standards since 1990, to become president of the Association in 1996. The voters also elected Anton Kris and Robert Pyles as councilors-at-large.
Before chairing BOPS, Margolis headed its Task Force on Amending Active Membership for Noncertified Members. That task force drew up the delinkage proposal that subsequently was approved as a bylaw amendment. The new president-elect has long been a leader of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute and the Michigan Society, having served both as president. The two groups have in recent years been noted for their success in drawing nonanalysts into their activities, and their educational and community service programs have enhanced the standing of psychoanalysis in the area. At a time when analytic practice has declined nationally, practice in Michigan has increased significantly.
When asked to identify the main issues facing The American today, Margolis cited the need to strengthen private practice. “The survival of our science and clinical work,” he remarked, “depends on the reversal of seventeen years of decline amounting to one percent per year. I see the solution to this problem as being primarily the creation of a psychoanalytic community, with institutes, societies, and foundations reaching out to groups in their areas and building a constituency that is educated about analysis and values it. Second, we have to promote the idea that analytic treatment deserves support, that there are indications for it, and that it is cost-effective.
“For psychoanalytic treatment to be practiced adequately, safeguards are needed, and we should fight for them in any new government health
program. They should include confidentiality, the sanctity of the analyst-patient relationship, the right of patients to choose their therapists, and the right of analysts and patients to participate in the system or stay out of it as they see fit. We need to see that utilization review is kept at the least intrusive level possible and that it be conducted by peers.
“If we improve our relationship with the public, meeting its needs and creating a partnership, we don't have to worry so much about health care reform, as long as our ability to practice privately isn't interfered with. On the other hand, I do feel strongly that we are morally obligated to fight for the inclusion of the best possible care in the basic health plan. We could survive well enough by treating the affluent, but I would not want to see us reduced to that.
“We can create a partnership with our communities. This is being done in many cities, and it's working. I am confident that psychoanalysis can survive and prosper, if only we share ideas that are being used effectively in various parts of the country. We are not beleaguered. We have to get out into the world, and we can compete because our treatment is effective. There is an increase in the number of those seeking training. Further success will come from reaching out to young people in the mental health fields.”
New councilor-at-large Anton Kris is a training and supervising analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. He has held numerous positions both there and at the Boston Society. He has served The American in several positions and currently co-chairs the Committee on Bylaws, Procedures, and Organization Structure and Function. Robert Pyles, the other new councilor-at-large, is a training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, where he too has held many offices. He has held several positions in The American as well, and currently co-chairs the Task Force on Board-Council Structure and Function.
Unsuccessful candidates in the election were Boyd L. Burris for president-elect and Dorothy E. Holmes and Jorge Schneider for councilor-at-large.