The newly formed Ad Hoc Committee on Psychotherapy Affiliates met for the first time at the December meetings of The American. The committee is chaired by Laurel E. Nelson and Gail H. Trivedi, and is composed of analysts, candidates, and psychoanalytically trained psychotherapists who want to promote a broader interest in psychoanalytic thought and understanding in their communities, particularly among mental-health professionals.
The committee has several mandates. It will be available to assist local societies in developing organizational structures for those interested in applying psychoanalysis to their professional work. In this way they can become active participants in their local psychoanalytic community by developing associations affiliated with local societies. The Association, together with the society, would provide a forum in which individuals can expand their knowledge and experience of current psychoanalytic thought.
Affiliate status with the APsaA for those who are graduates of comprehensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy programs of American institutes will be considered Psychotherapy affiliate membership status has already been granted by several local societies. This phenomenon will be evaluated as an alternative model to developing separate organizations affiliated with societies. There are plans to develop a workshop to discuss alternative models of such associations for beginning organizations. The committee will work to expand by including more representatives from the forty societies, study groups, or allied organizations.
There are presently three affiliate organizations with their own set of bylaws. The Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (AAP) is an affiliate of the Michigan Psychoanalytic Society. Over the past eight years it has been extremely successful and has a membership of 240 professionals. It has organized programs for professionals with locally, nationally, and internationally known speakers. The Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalytic Understanding (AAPU) is an affiliate of the Baltimore-Washington Society. The Alliance for Psychoanalytic Thought (APT) is an affiliate of the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Society.
As part of the focus on openness and inclusivity stressed by Marvin Margolis and others, a reception will be held at national meetings for affiliate members and those on the psychotherapist database maintained by the Central Office.
The main goal of the committee is to promote and expand psychoanalytic understanding throughout the mental-health community and wherever others can learn and benefit from a psychoanalytic perspective. We want to be available to the general community, to learn what their interests are, and to work together toward common goals.
Miriam Field is a sixth-year candidate in the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute and Society.