The American seems to pass through alternating waves of compromise and confrontation; fortunately, growth and strength arise out of the twin pressures of accommodation and conflict. We are all more comfortable, of course, when the contention rating is lowered, and the December meetings, at which the rapid pace of progress toward reconciliation and accommodation was almost confounding, left all of us relieved. This warrants a pause to appreciate the powerful yet peaceful undercurrents within The American, forces that move us progressively toward our educational and public relations goals. We can always throw ourselves back into the maelstrom of dissent, but we should resist that impulse long enough to take stock of ourselves and enjoy the view.
A stunning move toward compromise, engineered by Marvin Margolis, brought the board of directors of the Coalition for Patients' Rights (CPR) and Denise Nagle of CPR New England to New York City to meet with Marvin and me, and with representatives of The American's Committee on Government Relations and Insurance (CGRI). Dialogue continued for an entire afternoon and resumed early the next morning. The result was an informal agreement that CPR would join The American in its commitment to Marina Weiss as its new legislative representative. We recognized the importance of replicating the efforts of CPR New England nationwide, using them as a model for focusing local efforts with both community groups and specialty groups in medicine, psychology, and social work. These initiatives were reported to the Executive Council by Art Farley, who indicated that Dr. Weiss's contract would be signed as of January 1, at the monthly rate agreed to by the Budget and Finance Committee and approved by the Executive Council. An oversight committee to monitor our legislative activities will include an independent Executive Council member, Elizabeth Reid, as well as members of both CPR and CGRI.
This triumph of reconciliation did not overshadow the Budget and Finance Committee's work, which would itself have been enough to make the December meeting a success. Treasurer emeritus Steve Firestein, assisted by four Council members—Allan Compton, Newell Fischer, Leon Hoffman, and Jonah Schein — as well as Nadine Levinson, treasurer of the American Psychoanalytic Foundation, drafted The American's first prospective budget, using the accounting system put into place by Paul Mosher under Bernard Pacella's presidency. With additional help from Ellen Fertig and Nerissa Steele, the work of several years culminated in a document which, though complex, is both reliable and readable. Only the complete cooperation of various committee chairs, who were asked to submit projected 1996 expenses based on 1995 figures compiled by the Central Office, enabled the societies to get the proposed 1996 budget figures in time to review them at local meetings in November. Councilors whose societies had taken advantage of this opportunity for review and discussion came instructed to ask questions about murky areas and to advance their society's priorities.
As it happened, at the Council meeting itself, questions about the budget were few — we hope because of the general acceptability of the work to date. The Budget and Finance Committee will get into gear again under new treasurer Newell Fischer and will review such areas as officers' expenses, Central Office costs, and the apportioning of support to committees. The careful work done thus far portends an even clearer view of our current expenses and will enable us to make our financial choices with greater specificity. The Council recommended that BOPS, which had not committed itself to sending a representative to the Budget and Finance Committee in 1995, reconsider and participate in the coming year. The Affiliates Council was extended its first such invitation.
What more could we have anticipated from the meeting? Each new initiative occasions the need for further improvements, particularly in our communications. I hope that all members of the Council, as well as presidents of societies and chairs of Council committees, will have become accessible by E-mail as of late February. Only in that way can we be sure that the quarterly budget reports are reviewed in a timely and cost-efficient way, and that dialogue among councilors, officers, and chairs will continue throughout the year. A Council list or forum will be established to provide updates on documents and to share comments on them. This kind of discussion, perhaps rambling and diffuse but nonetheless necessary, will, we hope, sweep in those who tend to sit on the sidelines in Council. Eventually we may move to on-line discussions, thus further enhancing the Council's interactive communications, which have become more restricted as societies have been added to the Council, and as its tasks as a board of directors have become more complex. I urge councilors and alternates, chairs of committees, and society presidents to share the workload through active participation in a Council forum that is accessible and secure.
This involvement of The American with electronic communication is relatively new and absolutely essential. As the Council increases in size, as committees proliferate and yet must economize, E-mail and special lists are necessary to keep us alert and integrated between meetings. Some committees have made E-mail access a prerequisite of membership. Most of us now sit at our computers, without secretaries, and fumble our way through word processing and electronic communication, with the support of more knowledgeable family members or colleagues. An informal support network is easily acquired; cries for help are answered by the cognoscenti more readily and good-humoredly than might be imagined.
Our next giant step in the new technology is the preparation of a CD-ROM disc that will hold the entire output of JAPA, IJP (and the Review), the Quarterly, and the Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, plus a search engine—all on one disc. Long awaited, a “dirty disc” is expected to be available for the adventurous by next December. This may be overoptimistic, but it is a goal we are striving to attain. The initial disc, as with all such projects, will be purchased with a guarantee that it may be exchanged for a cleaner version when any bugs that are discovered have been worked out. The American and the British Society plan to be equal partners in this joint venture, which is being undertaken both to enhance analytic education worldwide and to reap the financial rewards of venture capital. The pilot journals, and any that may be added as financing and production procedures are worked out, will benefit by having back issues digitized for them for whatever uses they may find, and by receiving the royalties that PACT, an earlier project in which many of our members participated, could not offer. The opportunity to bring this compendium of psychoanalytic journals to libraries here and abroad, as well as to individuals far from libraries, is one we could not let pass. Our appreciation to those on the PACT advisory board mounts as we try to move their vision into actuality.
Further accommodation was notable when both BOPS and the Council approved the Psychoanalytic Consortium's bylaws, which remained essentially the same as when they were considered in 1994. Meanwhile, the amici brief, filed and supported financially by the Consortium, moved ahead smoothly, with all components working well with our law firm, Sidley & Austin. Rex E. Lee is the lead lawyer, assisted by Dennis Hirsch, an able associate who served as our contact, liaison, writer, and advisor. Paul Mosher again, this time as chair of the Committee on Confidentiality, took on the task of providing the documentation needed to set up the brief, and then collated and transmitted the comments from avid readers and advisors to Mr. Hirsch, all within the December 27 deadline for printing and the January 2 submission date. Now in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court, the document is available for view by all members, and by the world of cyberspace, on . Paul writes elsewhere in this issue of the details leading up to our involvement and choice of focus in this brief. Whatever the Court's decision on the Jaffee v. Redmond case itself, the importance of privacy, confidentiality, and a privilege for the psychoanalytic therapist-patient relationship has been laid out cogently to our highest court.
Is there more? Of course. It was a busy and at times contentious meeting. Discussions were frequently heated, but most very quickly proved fruitful. At this juncture I urge that we not neglect the value that disagreements bring. The American stands in need of as much open disagreement and as many probing questions as its members, their societies, and their councilors have the interest and courage to muster. Such debate has brought us to a vigorous and lively moment, and we are strengthened both by reconciliation and by the struggle to achieve it. The world, our world, has no grounds whatever for complacency. Freedom of thought brings us the unwelcome news that we are in trouble. Most organizations, like most individuals, are almost always in trouble. It won't cause us to perish. We will die as an organization only if, fearing criticism, we stifle freedom of thought and expression, and fall into the stasis and paralysis that would then ensue. Analysts know this. Optimism is in order after such a productive meeting, and we should stick with the optimists. It's going to be tough enough even if they are right.