The American Psychoanalytic Foundation (APF) has been able to grant money to a wide variety of psychoanalytically oriented programs this year, thanks to the tremendous success of its theater benefit last year and the generosity of its members and corporate sponsors. The foundation's board of directors received a greater number of worthy requests this year than ever before. It was able to fund two-thirds of those submitted.
Both the increased number of requests and the larger pool of donated funds are clear indications that the young foundation is beginning to make its presence felt in expanding the presence and availability of psychoanalysis to the professional and public communities.
In 1997, the foundation funded a third telecommunications site in Milwaukee (the other two are in Chicago and Minneapolis) and has already received two additional requests for future sites. Telecommunications offers the opportunity for live audio and/or visual communication between remote sites. As the network grows, the challenge will be for the American's institutes, study groups, and new psychoanalytic centers to creatively share teaching, supervision, scientific presentations, foundation resources, and a great many more opportunities to enrich analysts' professional lives. The network can expand as far as our imagination takes us.
The APF was gratified by the rave reviews of our two visiting professors, Arthur Rosenbaum, who visited Indianapolis, and Robert Michels, who visited Louisville. The presence of a seasoned psychoanalyst invigorated both programs, and both have requested return visits. This year the APF will collaborate with the American's new Committee on New Psychoanalytic Centers. The foundation will fund visiting professors for sites chosen by the CNPC.
In addition to sending visiting professors to psychoanalytically under-served sites, the APF will also fund three special visiting lecturers who will visit different cites around the country. The group will consist of one member each from the Committee on Issues of Homosexuality and the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, plus the Dr. Phyllis Greenacre Lecturer.
The APF is helping to develop members' computer skills by sponsoring a workshop on establishing Web sites. In addition, Carol Lindemann, a member of the foundation's board, stands ready to provide telephone assistance to all who have questions regarding Web site technology.
A major effort this year has been the collaboration of the APF and the Public Information Committee of The American. The two began a public forum on issues of pressing interest to our culture and society wherein psychoanalytic contributions can be heard. In San Diego, the first such forum, on the topic of assisted dying, was chaired by Peter Loewenberg. The public relations funded by the APF attracted an audience of the general public and engendered television, radio, and print media coverage. The collaborators plan to repeat their success in New York with a public forum on “Children Growing Up With Violence.”
The APF was very happy this year to award its first academic training grant through the Committee on Research and Special Training, a grant it hopes to continue in coming years. A subcommittee of CORST, headed by Deanna Holtzman, chose from among several highly qualified applicants. James W. Anderson of the University of Chicago and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis received a training stipend. His area of specialization is psychoanalysis and biography.
The foundation also awarded a grant to support an initiative of the Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis for its innovative and collaborative value as well as for its potential for other regions. Psychiatric residents and graduate students of psychology and social work in the Boston area asked for a regular course, taught by analysts, to augment their training. The students have taken the lead in designing the course content; they even requested more frequent meetings than the schedule suggested by the analytic groups. If the Boston model is successful, the APF will ask the three institutes to convey what they have learned to psychoanalytic groups in other areas.
APF's Psychoanalytic Assistance Fund made one loan and three grants to colleagues in need in 1997. This fund is open to all members of The American and candidates who are in financial need. Donald Meyers, a member of the APF board, chairs the fund and can receive all requests confidentially.
As is clear from this long but not exhaustive list of the APF's activities, this year the foundation made a significant step forward in collaborating with various committees of The American. It is gratifying to see all this activity and to be able to support it financially. This is accomplished only through the generosity of individual and corporate donors; the APF receives no money from the American.
This year the APF's theater benefit, chaired by Tami Margolis, will be held on Thursday evening, December 18. The foundation has booked the entire Greenwich House Theater for the acclaimed play Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Whether or not you can attend the play, the foundation's work merits your generous support.
Harvey L. Rich, M.D., is President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Psychoanalytic Foundation.