President Marvin Margolis convened the May 1997 meeting of the Executive Council with the announcement that the The American and the other members of the Psychoanalytic Consortium had moved closer to agreement on a proposed standard of analytic training. Margolis and incoming Chair of BOPS Donald Rosenblitt, who are The American's two representatives to the Consortium's External Credentialing committee, together with observers Donald Meyers and Calvern Narcisi met with the Consortium's external credentialing committee on May 2. The committee worked to develop a base of standards for training, believing that a level of trust has developed that allows the work to move forward. This was a major step toward greater acceptance by The American for working within the Consortium, as opposed to The American's seeking independent external credentialing status.
The intense debate over external credentialing has provided an arena for questions about the mission of The American. There has been a growing effort to reach out to potential friends and allies of psychoanalysis to counter the decline of the discipline's prestige and practice. Some have felt this might lead to a weakening of the educational and treatment standards held by The American. However, as the debate has moved toward compromise and consensus, it seems most likely that The American will maintain — and even enhance — standards while being inclusive and welcoming.
Next on the Council's agenda was Margolis's vision of the future of The American and of psychoanalysis in the United States. Margolis's initiatives are building a momentum, in contrast to The American's former relatively leisurely organizational pace and approach. Among them:
An ad hoc Committee on New Psychoanalytic Centers (see page 26) has been charged with seeking out and activating new sites for potential psychoanalytic study groups and societies, aiming for 20 new sites of psychoanalytic activity in the next four years.
The newly functioning student associate program has received an enthusiastic response (see page 27). Recommendations have been made to develop committees to reach out to all groups of potential members and supporters.
Attendance at national meetings is being stimulated by the new Outreach Committee for Scientific and Educational Programs, led by Sharon Zalusky. Its first efforts led to a 61 percent increase in attendance at the national meeting. Eleven hundred people attended the San Diego meeting, compared to about 750 who attended the Los Angeles meeting last year.
This is all part of the movement to gather analysts and friends of analysis under The American's tent. A new Committee on Psychotherapy Associates has been formed to promote psychotherapist affiliates at the local and national levels. Recognizing that many societies include such affiliates, Council members raised questions about the precise relation of non-analyst members of societies to The American. An interesting debate took place over the future nature of societies and how they will be represented on the Council. Analysts on the Council could be representing a broader constituency than simply other analysts and members of The American.
The major thrust of the new committee's work will be to create groups of student associates, psychotherapist associates, and the like, who will be affiliated with our societies but will not be society members. Margolis emphasized that Councilors who are analysts will continue to represent societies, which will still be largely composed of analysts.
Margolis's initiatives continue the trends and developments of the past few years. The Executive Council has taken a more powerful role, the Committee on Societies has been activated, the Steering Committee (a gathering of the chairs of Council committees parallel to that of the BOPS Coordinating Committee) has been formed, and budget presentations are publicly delivered and debated.
The Council was also addressed by Harold Eist, outgoing president of the American Psychiatric Association, who dedicated his presidency to the struggle against managed care and the renewed acceptance of psychodynamic psychotherapy. He presented a thoughtful perspective on the relationship between psychoanalysts and the political world and extended a call to join forces to combat the excesses of managed care.
The Southwest Psychoanalytic Society in Phoenix, Ariz. was voted into The American. The society includes the minimum required number of members of The American — some of them retired members — along with a larger contingent of non-members. The Executive Council was thus afforded the opportunity to open its first debate about the future of societies of The American: who will represent the members, the breadth of interests the representatives will represent, and so on. At the end of the discussion the provisional president of the Southwest Psychoanalytic Society, Sydney Arkowitz, noted that its acceptance into The American culminated 23 years of effort. (See page 32.)
Treasurer Newell Fischer continued to educate the Council — and therefore the membership — concerning the economics of The American. His main points, which could be useful guides for all local treasurers, concerned balancing income derived from dues and from other sources. In The American, dues account for 80 percent of income; in the American Psychiatric Association, dues account for only 50 percent of income. (APA President Eist said that even that is too high because it makes the organization too vulnerable to loss of members.) Outside sources of income are not easy to come by, nationally or locally, and new thinking is needed.
Among the ideas Fischer presented were increased income from publications, better investing strategies, commissions from insurance companies using The American's roster, public contributions to the Foundation, and even exploring the hitherto unthinkable: drug company grants — if they can be given with no strings attached.
The Budget and Finance Committee, chaired by the treasurer, has developed a much more orderly budgetary review process. After earlier predictions of a $150,000 deficit, 1996 ended
in the black. Despite a loss of dues income, The American registered a significant gain by changing the process of producing JAPA, brought to fruition by editor Arnold Richards. The treasurer summarized his recommendations as they affect the future of the Association. Expansion and outreach are essential; otherwise The American faces stagnation and atrophy. Expansion must be carefully and thoughtfully done. Our resources must not be stretched to the point of depletion.
Incoming Secretary Jon Meyer reported in his past capacity as chair of the committee studying Executive Council structure and function. The committee has focused on the future role of the Executive Council. Given the historical focus on BOPS, the membership and local societies are often not aware of the current significance of the Council and its actions.
As part of the suggested guidelines societies may use to select and empower their Councilors, it was suggested that Councilors be part of the executive structure of each society. In the discussion that followed the report of incoming secretary Jon Meyer, Council members considered increasing societies' representation on the Council to two voting members; however, some thought a larger Council might be unworkable. The committee's guidelines were approved by the Council and are now available to societies that wish to review them.
Warren R. Procci assumed the chair of the Committee on Government Relations and Insurance at the May 1997 meeting. He praised his predecessor, Arthur J. Farley, for his leadership during a difficult period of time for the organization.
The Association's lobbyist, Marina Weiss, has been replaced by our governmental representative Janet Shikles, who is Director of Public Policy and Governmental Relations of the Washington, D.C., law firm Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville. Shikles, an experienced advocate before Congressional committees, briefly addressed the Council. She is a social worker who was formerly Assistant Comptroller General of the Department of Health and Human Services' General Accounting Office.
A current focus of The American is on privacy and confidentiality issues, vital to analytic practice. Margolis strongly supports the Committee on Confidentiality's mission to develop committees within local societies to establish contacts with elected officials to further these vital legislative goals. Paul Mosher completed his term as chair of the committee. When Margolis awarded him a certificate of appreciation for his service from 1994 to 1997, Mosher received a standing ovation.
Allan Compton, chair of the Election Oversight Committee, proposed an important recommendation for change in Council election procedures. Briefly explained, all candidates must be voted upon in sequential preference. The change is subtle but welcome, since it reduces the chances of manipulation of the election process, a concern voiced previously by some members. The Council approved this proposal, and the committee was commended for its work.
Maimon Leavitt reported that effective with the May 1997 meeting, all affiliate members would become active members upon graduation. Modifications in dues requirements for newly elevated members were recommended and approved, with an eye to easing and speeding the process and to maintaining new members' interest in active membership.
Judith S. Schachter, immediate past President of The American and chair of the PEP program, which has produced a CD-ROM containing the major English-language psychoanalytic journals, reported that the PC beta version had been mailed the week of the Executive Council's meeting. Unfortunately, the Macintosh version will be further delayed because of software problems. Shachter singled out for praise the PEP Board of Directors for their invaluable contributions.
Pamela S. Jennings, chair of the Joint Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, said that her goal is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the world of analysis, by increasing minority representation. The committee hopes to accomplish this through sponsoring workshops and visits of minority analysts to societies.
Dorothy Holmes, reporting for the Committee on Honorary Memberships, nominated three honorary members:
Robert Dallek, a UCLA professor and eminent political scientist. He has published many works in his field employing psychoanalytic concepts with which he became familiar through training in the Southern California Institute.
Gerald Edelman of La Jolla, a 1972 Nobel Laureate in physiology. His current research addresses concepts of consciousness and memory, for which he has developed powerful but controversial models, many of which are beginning to gain acceptance.
Benjamin Spock, whose Baby and Child Care has, through many editions and profound changes in the philosophy of child-rearing, remained a byword of American parents and pediatricians since 1945.
President-elect Robert Pyles informed the Council that The American hopes to develop additional honors, such as presidential citations. This recommendation was approved by the Council.
Lee Brauer reported that at the time of this Council meeting, only 48 percent of those solicited had responded to the practice survey. This is too small a group to be useful in drawing conclusions about practice. A final request will be made in an attempt to enlist greater participation so that the survey be statistically valid. Brauer reported that some members have asked why the survey is limited to analysis, rather than covering therapy practice in general.
Melvin Bornstein reported for the Committee on Societies, noting that changes in the general direction of The American call for a change in the mandate of this committee. The Committee on Societies tries both to help local societies to expand in their own communities and to help develop new areas for expansion.