The American Psychoanalytic Association awarded honorary membership to four prominent scholars at the May 29 Meeting of Members at the Annual Meeting in Toronto. Following the formal business of the meeting, the four addressed the meeting on the relevance of psychoanalytic thinking to their work.
Professor Martin S. Bergmann, author of The Evolution of Psychoanalytic Technique, was recognized for his illustrious scholarly and professional contributions to psychoanalysis and applied psychoanalysis over the course of more than 50 years. He spoke of moments of insight in his psychoanalytic work.
Professor Robert Dallek, author of the recently published Flawed Giant: Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1960–1973, was honored for the depth of his psychoanalytic understanding as applied in his scholarship in American political history. At the meeting, he presented a psychological profile of President Johnson.
Gerald M. Edelman, winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in medicine and author of Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness, was awarded recognition for his long and prolific career as a researcher in (among other areas) processes of consciousness, perception, cognition, and memory. He spoke on new developments in the understanding of the molecular basis of memory.
Hans H. Strupp, author of Psychotherapy Research and Practice: Bridging the Gap, was honored for his contributions to the knowledge and practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy as a researcher for more than 40 years. His talk was titled “Reflections of a Psychoanalytic Reseacher.”
Dorothy Holmes, Chair of the Committee on Honorary Membership, introduced the speakers.