The Long Island Psychoanalytic Society, now thirty-two years old, numbers fifty-five members—analysts practicing mainly in Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens counties. The majority are members also of one of the three society/institutes in Manhattan—PANY-NYU, the New York Psychoanalytic, and Columbia. Because the Long Island Society does not have its own institute, almost the entire membership has at one time or another taught at one of the Manhattan institutes. The resulting mix of theoretical, technical, and political perspectives is in part responsible for the Long Island Society's special quality, that lively blending of ideas its members find so invigorating. This quality, together with the talents of the individuals in the society, has resulted in an organization whose members have produced many original psychoanalytic papers, been active with many components of The American, and—most important—have throughout the years had active psychoanalytic practices. In addition, fully two-thirds of the society's members are certified by The American.
In the 1950s the Long Island Society emerged out of the Nassau Neuro-Psychiatric Society, an organization of general psychiatrists, many of them also neurologists, and a few psychoanalysts. Trained at the New York Institute or at Columbia, these analysts included Isidor Bernstein, Irving Clyne, Paul Goolker, Samuel Lehrman, and Jay Stanton This nucleus, wishing to establish and maintain a psychoanalytic identity, did so by meeting as an ongoing study group outside The American. In the beginning, the group also included a few analysts trained at institutes unaffiliated with The American, and official study group status was not sought.
By 1960 the presence of psychoanalysis on Long Island had expanded considerably. Analysts were emigrating from New York City to the greener pastures of the suburbs, and their ranks were now increased by graduates from a third institute, NYU, then known as Downstate. To the original nucleus were added Jules Glenn, Eugene Kaplan, Paul Kay, and Herbert Wieder on the North Shore of Nassau, and Irving Rubins and Henry Schneer on the South Shore. This expanded group was now meeting fairly regularly to consider the technical and theoretical problems of psychoanalytic practice, to present scientific work, and to consider methods of community liaison so as better to provide Long Island the benefits of psychoanalysis.
By 1963, development had continued to a point where formation of a society became possible. These efforts were greatly encouraged by Jacob Arlow and John Frosch, and also by Lewis Robbins, then director of Hillside Hospital. Samuel Lehrman, as chair of psychiatry at Long Island Jewish Hospital, was also quite helpful. In May 1963 the Long Island Psychoanalytic Society was formally established, with Paul Goolker as president, Isidor Bernstein as vice-president, Jules Glenn as secretary, and Harold Blum as treasurer. There were thirty-one charter members, including every regular practicing psychoanalyst in Nassau, Suffolk, and Queens. Exactly a year later, The American recognized Long Island as a full component society.
With thirty-one charter members and a ten-year history as an informal study group, the Long Island Society was able rather quickly to reach a full level of active functioning. In the 1970s the society grew to a total membership of between fifty and sixty, a range that has been maintained ever since.
From the Long Island Society's inception, three areas of activity—clinical psychoanalytic practice, scientific work, and community liaison—have been actively maintained, with clinical practice the backbone of the organization. The society includes in its membership many distinguished contributors to the analytic literature; of these, Harold Blum, Jules Glenn, and Judith Kestenberg, as well as the society's two
David Newman, M.D., is a training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute at the NYU Medical Center and past president of the Long Island Psychoanalytic Society.
active honorary members, Jacob Arlow and Charles Brenner, are among the better known. In addition, the society holds a joint meeting once a year with the Nassau Psychiatric Society, thus keeping up a connection with its neurological and general psychiatric origins.
Since its formation, the society has pioneered in providing analytic presentations to the general public in various Long Island communities. It has participated in local school district adult education programs and on occasion has offered synagogue and church programs. Public relations and outreach activities have also been directed at the mental health community. Seminars have been held for staff members at various local mental hygiene clinics and child guidance clinics, and teaching and supervision for the psychiatric staffs at North Shore and Long Island Jewish hospitals remain cornerstones of the society's liaison activity. Lectures and seminars open to the mental health community have been given regularly through the years. One recent lecture series, in which many in the society participated, resulted in the publication of a textbook on analytic psychotherapy.
A most important outreach activity is liaison work with the medical community. Activities with other physicians—internists, pediatricians, and on occasion other specialists—have long been a part of the Long Island Society's effort. In today's difficult climate for psychoanalysis, this is an area that could command much more attention. Specifically, the society has conducted study groups and seminars for interested physicians, participated in the grand rounds of psychiatry departments, and provided consultation services for various clinics. An interesting historical note, and an early example of outreach, is that at one time the society paid for subscriptions to psychoanalytic journals for the library of the Nassau Academy of Medicine.
Another special feature of the Long Island Society is its high level of activity in the area of child and adolescent psychoanalysis. Fully a third of the membership, eighteen of the current fifty-five, are child and adolescent analysts. As a result, a good proportion of society presentations are devoted to work with children and teenagers, and a significant amount of outreach activity is directed similarly. Members who do not see children find that the knowledge they receive from their child analytic colleagues enhances their clinical work with adults.
Finally, included among the society's activities are various social events. The annual president's cocktail party, held in September at the beginning of the new analytic year, is an event to which everyone looks forward. It is here that invisible corresponding members are likely to materialize in person. In addition, the annual spring business meeting is accompanied by cocktails and dinner, another occasion enjoyed by all.
During the 1990s, though the overall functioning of the Long Island Society has been maintained, the same disquieting trends that analysts are experiencing elsewhere have begun to appear. Specifically, though the society has maintained its base membership, and younger members continue to join, the group overall is growing older, and soon the influx of new members will not nearly compensate for those leaving the active rolls. Moreover, the number of analytic cases is starting to decline from the previously high levels the society has historically maintained. Good practice and scientific contributions are not enough to meet these challenges. The Long Island Society is therefore resolved to step up its outreach activities, conveying to the general public and to the medical and mental health communities the fact that a properly conducted analysis, employing standard technique with a well-selected patient, can offer enormous benefits. Societies must get this message to the consuming public and to other professionals much more clearly and vividly. The Long Island Society believes, and has so voted on many occasions, that standards of analytic technique and standards of training should not be diluted merely to reverse the declining trend in analytic cases and candidates. Analysts can meet the current challenges better by maintaining analysis as a viable and unique treatment modality. To paraphrase an analytic ancestor, analysis can survive the anemia of fewer good analysts and fewer good analyses, but the leukemia of greater numbers of substandard analysts doing substandard work will surely be fatal.