We offer the following proposal to the members of the American Psychoanalytic Association, as one way to deal with the issue of external credentialing of psychoanalytic institutes. It is, certainly, a rather extreme solution to a problem that has been worked on by BOPS and the Executive Committee for some time. We hope it will alert our members to the complexities and seriousness of this issue and will stimulate discussion and debate.
In recent years, questions have been raised about the advisability of separating the Board on Professional Standards completely from The American. Such a move/admittedly radical, would serve three general purposes and might prove beneficial to the cause of analysis in the United States.
First, it is cumbersome to encompass in one institution a scientific organization, a membership organization, and a certifying body. No professional organization except our own, to our knowledge, combines these functions. Scientific and membership functions are, however, commonly combined in a single organization.
Second, there is a long history of tensions, more or less overt, between the Board on Professional Standards and the Executive Council. The objectives of the two bodies overlap, but do not coincide. Needless friction, both organizational and personal, would be avoided by a separation.
Third, in combining membership and certification functions, The American is legally vulnerable. With separation, the Board would be in an excellent position to request official status from governmental agencies as a standard-setter and official certifying agent for psychoanalysis. The Board has recently proclaimed the necessity of dealing with such difficult political and practical issues. Separation would make this easier.
We list below a number of features of our proposal, designed to deal with the difficult and complex organizational problems attendant on such a move.
BOPS will be renamed the Board on Psychoanalytic Standards.
All training and supervising analysts will be members of BOPS.
Training and supervising analysts will continue to be chosen by individual institutes, as is done currently.
BOPS members will elect a president, a secretary, and a board, which will have the same functions as BOPS has today. The members of this small elected board will be called Fellows of BOPS, and they will operate as BOPS does at present.
The secretary of BOPS will continue to report to the Executive Council twice a year, but as a source of information about issues of importance, not as a committee representative reporting to the Council.
The president or secretary of BOPS will meet with the Executive Committee for consultation and discussion of the many issues of mutual interest. However, the BOPS representative will be unable to vote, as BOPS will be a separate institution.
The budget of The American will be carefully studied, and all expenditures allocated to BOPS, including those for site visits, calculated. That amount will be subtracted from the budget, and the total annual dues of The American will be reduced by that amount.
All training and supervising analysts will pay separate dues to belong to BOPS, in an amount to be determined by that body, which should be equal to or greater than the amount by which their APsaA dues will be reduced. BOPS will be funded in part by these moneys.
This amount will not be adequate for all the activities of BOPS. Each institute will have to raise money (by contributions, dues, etc.) and pay an amount to BOPS annually for the services provided by BOPS. BOPS will decide whether to charge by size of institute, number of site visits, or other factors. In the end, of course, all moneys will come from individuals involved with those institutes.
It is unclear whether The American would be allowed to contribute money to BOPS for its functions, as this may constitute a conflict of interest. A legal opinion will be needed to decide this.
BOPS will continue to evaluate training institutions and will determine the mechanism for granting certification in psychoanalysis. Individual institutes will determine standards for graduation, and all graduates will be eligible for membership in The American, as is currently the case.
BOPS will be independent of The American and thus will be eligible to apply, at the national level, for recognition as a professional board that certifies psychoanalytic training institutes. It will set standards and determine compliance with them.
BOPS and The American will have overlapping memberships and similar interests regarding the preservation of psychoanalysis in America. We assume there will continue to be very close cooperation between the two organizations.
We realize this is a preliminary draft and that many important details remain to be worked out. Nevertheless, we believe, the benefits of such a separation are great, and the drawbacks minor.
Gerald V. Freiman, M.D.
Forest Hills, NY
Henry Kaminer, M.D.
Tenafly, NJ