Psychoanalysis in San Diego began in 1962 with a study group organized by the few practicing psychoanalysts in the community, namely James Thickstun, Allan Rosenblatt, Norvelle LaMar, Vincent Mazzanti, and Richard Hicks, who was then a candidate at the Southern California Institute. In 1968 San Diego psychoanalysts joined with representatives from the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute to form a joint committee, authorized by the American Psychoanalytic Association, to develop an institute in San Diego. The first classes began in 1970, and by 1977 both the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute were fully accredited by The American. In 1989, the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and the San Diego Psychoanalytic Institute were merged into a combined organization, the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (SDPSI). This organization is governed by a board of directors elected by the membership, chaired by Edward Fields. Psychoanalytic training is the responsibility of the Education Committee, chaired by Phyllis Tyson. SDPSI has currently graduated forty-one individuals who are now practicing psychoanalysts in the community.
SDPSI is a small but very active organization. First, we maintain a program in psychoanalytic education and clinical training, offering training in both child and adult psychoanalysis. We begin classes every two years and currently have fifteen candidates in the adult program and four child psychoanalytic candidates. We also sponsor a three-year certificate-based psychotherapy training program. This program began in 1983 and is among the earliest of the current generation of psychotherapy programs that many institutes are now beginning to sponsor. SDPSI is probably unique among psychoanalytic organizations in that graduates of the psychotherapy program are eligible for membership, and after graduation, representatives of those graduates serve on the Board of Directors and on many other committees. This group has become an active and valuable part of our organization.
In addition to our training programs, SDPSI sponsors many others. We have an extension division offering various lectures and courses to the mental health community. The E.M. Lippett Clinic, named in honor of one of our chief benefactors, offers assessment and low-fee psychotherapy or psychoanalysis to members of the community. We also sponsor a small nursery school named in honor of Hanna Fenichel. Last year that school held an evening panel, during which three members of our faculty and an advanced candidate discussed problems of aggression in young children, that was aired on local cable television. A similar program was held in April on the developmental needs of children and how these can be addressed by a preschool.
In addition, SDPSI sponsors several public scientific meetings during the year, and we sponsor a weekend symposium every other year, bringing analysts of international acclaim together to speak about a subject of topical concern. For example, in 1990 we presented Families in Crisis: Psychodynamic Perspectives; in 1991, The Male Mystique: New Perspectives on the Psychology of Men; in 1992, Victims of Abuse: The Emotional Impact of Child & Adult Trauma; in 1993, Demystifying Male-Female Relationships: Sex & Gender Conflicts in Psychotherapy; and in 1996, The Clinical Faces of Hatred.
With money donated by the Herman M. Serota Memorial Fund, we sponsored two public lectures with the University of California, San Diego, Department of Psychiatry. The first lecture, Anna Freud: A Biographer's Reflections, by Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, was held in 1990. The second lecture, Female Psychoanalysts in the Movies, by Glen Gabbard, took place in 1994. These free lectures attracted more than a hundred people, including psychiatric residents and psychology students. In addition, in 1992, through the International Universities Press, SDPSI published the first of two monographs of the Ralph R. Greenson Memorial Library: The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis, Volume II: A Memorial Volume to Ralph R. Greenson, edited by Alan Sugarman, Robert A. Nemiroff, and Daniel P. Greenson, and On Loving, Hating and Living Well The Public Psychoanalytic Lectures of Ralph R. Greenson, edited by Robert A. Nemiroff, Alan Sugarman, and Alvin Robbins. In 1994, the third monograph, Victims of Abuse: The Emotional Impact of Child and Adult Trauma, edited by Alan Sugarman, was published.
Like other societies and institutes, SDPSI has had its growing pains. Although America's Finest City, as San Diego is fondly known, has a long history, beginning with Indian settlements dating to at least two thousand years ago and Spanish explorations to the sixteenth century, it is nevertheless a young city. Few, if any, members of SDPSI are San Diego natives, and among the founding fathers, at least ten institutes were represented. This means our procedures, policies, and traditions were all imported from elsewhere. Although heterogeneity and diversity can lead to great creativity, the absence of roots, early bondings, and loyalties that extend beyond institutional boundaries has a subtle but sometimes profound effect on a city and on an institution. Although the power struggles and inner tension that seem to characterize psychoanalytic organizations have been well-represented in SDPSI, those suffered here over the years have also been born of this diversity. We have been therefore continually challenged to find creative ways to address our strife and inner tensions. A recent site visit in October 1996, however, reminded us that while we have our difficulties, we also are unique among institutes in having such a large majority of our graduates and faculty involved either in teaching or in supporting the number of activities and programs I have mentioned.
San Diego is unique in yet another way. The climate makes this among the most desirable places to live in the English-speaking world. This climate, however, also spawned and supported the growth of a cancerous movement, which, like most cancers, goes undetected until it's well- entrenched. The cancer to which I refer is managed care. San Diego now has the distinction of having the largest proportion of managed care per capita in the nation. All members of SDPSI have consequently felt a strain on their practices. To fight such a rapidly growing malignant tumor, SDPSI recognized that psychoanalysis needs greater recognition in the community. But first, we needed a permanent home. A dedicated and extremely hard-working small group of individuals, spearheaded by Nadine Levinson, put their heads together and under their leadership we were able to realize this long-held dream. We moved into our new home in 1994, and our outreach committee, led by Dan Gardner, is brainstorming how SDPSI can have a greater presence in the San Diego community.
Phyllis Tyson is an associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Diego Department of Psychiatry, a training and supervising analyst and director of education at the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and geographic rule child and adolescent supervising analyst at the Denver Psychoanalytic Institute. She is the coauthor of “Psychoanalytic Theories of Development: An Integration,” Yale University Press, 1990.
A Web site, a reorganization of our clinic, the formation of a practice group, media liaison, and a speakers bureau are being considered.
As we look to the future we look also to the past. In May 1996, SDPSI celebrated the ninetieth birthday of Manney Lippett, our long-time benefactor, past chair of the board, and the first person to be honored as a 'Distinguished Friend of Psychoanalysis“ by the APsaA. To recognize Lippett's emotional, administrative, and financial support to our institute and society, we made him our first honorary graduate. We have all been enriched by the spirit of this warm, giving, sparkling jewel.