Psychic Reality: Its Impact on the Analyst and the Patient Today is the theme of the International Psychoanalytical Association Congress to be held at the downtown Marriott Hotel in San Francisco July 30 through August 4, 1995. The Congress, only the second to be held in the United States, will stress psychoanalytic pluralism and controversy, and a new format promises opportunity for extensive participation by the audience.
Leon Crinberg and Helen Meyers, chair and secretary of the scientific program, write in International Psychoanalysis, the IPA newsletter, “We are planning to reexamine psychic reality in new ways, from different and current perspectives and frames of reference, and in different applications, hopefully leading to useful refinements, extensions, and new understanding, both clinically and theoretically.”
The meetings are organized around the morning plenary sessions. In the afternoon, panels related to the morning sessions will feature prominent analysts and creative younger colleagues. To provide varied theoretical viewpoints, the program committee has invited experts from throughout the analytic community, including many preeminent members of The American. Ample time will be allotted for discussion among panelists and audience.
The opening panel on Monday, “Psychic Reality and Clinical Technique,” chaired by Joseph Sandler, includes Isidore Bernstein, Haydée Faimberg, and Leo Rangell. Afternoon panelists include Gerald Adler, Salman Akhtar, Robert Caper, Manuel Furer, Lee Grossman, John Kafka, Ethel Person, Owen Renik, Arnold Rothstein, Leonard Shengold, Alan Skolnikoff, and Vann Spruiell.
“Psychic Reality: Theoretical Concepts,” chaired by Charles Brenner, is the Tuesday plenary. Ron Britton, Lawrence Friedman, and Janine Puget are panelists. Panelists in the afternoon include Jacob Arlow, Peter Blos, Jr., Harold Blum, Arnold Cooper, Steven H. Cooper, Stanley Leavy, Helen Meyers, Robert Michels, David Sachs, and Joseph Weiss.
The Thursday morning plenary, chaired by Judith Chused, is entitled “Psychic Reality and the Life Cycle.” Panelists are Yecheskiel Cohen, Peter Fonagy, and Carmen Medici de Steier. Sandra Bemesderfer, Peter Blos, Jr., John Gedo, Axel Hoffer, Theodore Jacobs, Paulina Kernberg, and Charles Sarnoff will participate in afternoon sessions. The final panel, on Friday, will provide an overview and includes Arnold Richards and Robert Wallerstein.
IPA president Horacio Etchegoyen and Judith Schachter, president of The American, will participate in Monday's opening ceremony. Wednesday is devoted to the IPA Business Meeting.
Mortimer Ostow will deliver the Elise M. Hayman Lecture. Several special panels are also scheduled; “Bion's Contribution to Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique” will include James Grotstein; “Psychoanalysis in the Pacific Rim” will include chair Robert Tyson and Joseph Okimoto; and Albert J. Solnit (chair) and Anton Kris will appear on the panel “The Contemporary Relevance of Anna Freud's Contribution to Psychoanalysis.” George Allison will participate in the panel “History of Psychoanalysis on the West Coast.” Panelists for “Psychic Reality and Film” include Glen Gabbard, while panels on research include Robert Emde, Joy Osofsky, and Theodore Shapiro. Edward Nersessian will chair “Studies on Hysteria: One Hundred Years After.”
In addition to the scientific program, tours of the scenic and cultural highlights of the Bay Area and northern California will be available to those in attendance.
Owen Renik is Congress co-chair for North America, Jean-Michel Quinodoz for Europe, and Leonardo Wender for Latin America. Sander Abend, Judith Chused, Anton Kris, Eva Lester, Sydney Pulver, and Gail Reed serve on the North American Program Committee. Joseph E. Lifschutz and Reed Brockbank co-chair the Local Arrangements Committee.