Hundreds of analysts are now using computer-based communications to facilitate interaction with colleagues. The following communications facilities are maintained by members on a voluntary basis and by Central Office staff.
E-mail helps users avoid the usual “telephone tag” so many have had to endure because of diverse time zones and busy schedules. Most members are using the CompuServe Information Service for E-mail, though many use America Online or Internet connections. The CompuServe basic cost is $9.95 monthly, which includes sixty E-mail letters per month and one hundred other “basic” services. Users will need a personal computer equipped with a modem. Local dial-in numbers are available throughout the U.S. and Canada. (Rates vary in Europe and Asia.) The software supplied by CompuServe makes E-mail extremely easy. The American's Central Office may be reached (Association business only) through CompuServe E-mail at 71644,2164 (Internet users should use central.office@apsa.org). To order CompuServe service, call 800–848–8199.
A new fax-on-demand (FOD) service is now in operation at the Central Office. This 24-hour, 7-days-a-week service allows anyone with a fax machine to obtain certain public documents without having to interact with the staff. To use this service, callers must have a fax machine, preferably equipped with an integrated touchtone phone. Callers dialing the FOD number, 212–980–1831, will hear a voice announcement giving instructions. First-time callers can be faxed a list of available documents by choosing option 1 on the touchtone phone. This list will supply a specific number for each of the documents, to be used on subsequent calls. The system is intended to facilitate communication with the Central Office for those who do not yet have computers. Public documents of The American, such as press releases and policy statements, will be available.
This facility is a project of the Research Division of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis (Charles Jaffe, director). The BBS, operated by Robert Galatzer-Levy, has been in continuous operation for almost two years. Messages “posted” for general distribution are combined twice weekly into a single E-mail letter and delivered directly to participants' CompuServe or other electronic mailboxes. Areas covered include practice issues, theoretical issues, and clinical discussions. Currently there are about two hundred participants. This BBS is open only to graduate psychoanalysts and analytic candidates. It is requested that the distributed material be treated with the same discretion as communications at clinical workshops. To join the BBS, send an E-mail request with identifying information to Robert Galatzer-Levy at CompuServe address 72255,1101. (The BBS may be obtained from the Internet, as well. Send requests to .) Each participant is asked (but not required) to donate twenty dollars a year to defray costs.
This “Internet list” is “owned” by Robert Galatzer-Levy and is open to anyone interested in psychoanalysis. Currently, about four hundred individuals worldwide, including students, academicians, therapists, and analysts, participate. Members come from Australia, Hong Kong, and eastern and western Europe, as well as North America. An E-mail letter from a list member is sent via the Internet to a central computer that automatically distributes the letter to all other list participants. This list has a significantly higher volume of messages than the CompuServe BBS and a wider range of viewpoints. For information, E-mail Galatzer-Levy at the above address.
The American is presently operating a new World Wide Web (WWW) home page on the Internet. This facility, accessible from anywhere in the world, contains a variety of information going beyond that on the FOD system, and includes a hypertext geographic directory of members to help anyone looking for an analyst in a given city. In addition, the operation of the mailing lists described above will be revised as The American activates its own system, thereby providing additional communications ability to its committees. Please watch for announcements on the BBS, on the FOD system, and on the home page at .
Courtesy of Committee on Scientific Activities and Task Force on Communication and Information.