Interest in psychoanalysis is today steadily increasing in Russia, and much of the credit must go to The American's Ad Hoc Committee on Soviet-American Educational Exchange. This committee, for the more than five years of its existence, has been chaired by Homer Curtis, who took it on as his project with The American when his term as president expired (“Russian” has since replaced “Soviet” in the group's name). Under Curtis's leadership a steady stream of American analysts has traveled to both Moscow and St. Petersburg.
To date, the committee has sponsored seven Russians to study in the U.S.; the first, Lev Gertsik, is a second-year resident at UCLA and the recipient this year of an APsaA fellowship. Two psychologists are studying in the Washington and Baltimore-Washington Institutes, and three Russians from St. Petersburg have come to study under the sponsorship of the Houston-Galveston Society. One other Russian, from Moscow, is studying in South Carolina in preparation for getting his medical certificate to practice and take training in the U.S.
The committee has supported Russians wishing to attend meetings of The American and the IPA. The Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society, for example, raised over four hundred dollars this year through the sale of Russian jewlery, clothing, and other handicrafts, money used to support four Russians attending the IPA Congress in San Francisco. The committee has also has helped in sending books and periodicals to the former Soviet Union. Because for sixty years or more the Soviet government suppressed psychoanalysis, there is today an extreme shortage of written materials in the former Soviet republics. To address this lack, two retiring analysts—Hilda Rollman-Branch and Ken Rubin, both of Los Angeles—have donated their libraries to Moscow and St. Petersburg, respectively. Others interested in donating books or periodicals as a tax-deductible gift to the future of psychoanalysis in Russia should contact Homer Curtis.
The East European Institute of Psychoanalysis in St. Petersburg (EEIP), part of the Russian Guest Study Group of the IPA, is sponsored by the ad hoc committee under the coordination of Stephen Tew of Houston-Galveston. The institute now has sixteen faculty members, four training analysts, and over three hundred students enrolled in a four-year program. The aim is to encourage and enable Russians to stay at home to learn psychoanalysis, as most of those who have gone abroad for training have not returned. EEIP director Mikhail Reshetnikov, desirous of any help that can be given the fledgling program, has set up a Russian Psychoanalysis Revival Fund that can receive contributions in any amount. The institute also needs psychoanalytic books in English in order to build up its library. Already the task of translation is under way, as last year saw the publication of five psychoanalytic books in Russian editions.
American analysts are needed to teach seminars and do supervision for stays of any length, but commitments of four to ten weeks are especially welcome. For those who can stay even longer, the institute will provide room and board and a stipend. EEIP invites members of The American to become corresponding members.
Finally, the institute is planning an international conference to be held this May and invites the submission of ideas and papers. Those interested may contact Steven Tew or Scott Carder for further information or may write directly to Mikhail Reshetnikov, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis, 18-lit. “A”, Bolshoy pr., P.S., St. Petersburg, 197198, RUSSIA (phone 011–7–812–355–0367; fax 011–7–812–114–3927).