At the May 12 meeting of the Board on Professional Standards, Ralph Engle was elected to become chair of BOPS at the completion the term of current chair Donald Rosenblitt in May 2000. BOPS approved a recommendation to develop structures and procedures to help deal with impaired faculty analysts. The Board also encouraged exploring how institutes could grant academic degrees, endorsed developing a position statement opposing bias against homosexuals, and moved forward to allow voting representatives to BOPS from provisional institutes and new training facilities. The Fellows also raised questions about the American's efforts to link with other analytic organizations.
The May Meeting was held in Washington, D.C., and the American made an unprecedented effort to meet with politicians with the aim of preserving confidentiality and privacy in therapy. Rosenblitt described APsaA President Bob Pyles as “the right person, at the right time, and in the right place. “He added,” and we are the right people,” to the applause of the Fellows.
Engle won a close election against Ronald Benson. Engle thanked Benson, remarking that he had heard from many fellows that Benson, during his campaign, had said many nice things about Engle. “We wanted a positive campaign, and we succeeded in it,” Engle commented.
Jerome Winer presented the report of the COPE study group on the impaired faculty analyst [see TAP 33/2, page 9]. The Board unanimously approved the report, which included three recommendations: (1) institutes will form standing psychoanalyst assistance committees (PACs), (2) BOPS will form a standing PAC to advise institutes how to handle individual problems, and (3) the Board PAC will collect and disseminate information. Winer was appointed chair of the Board PAC.
Phyllis Tyson reported for the Ad Hoc Task Force on Psychoanalytic Advanced Degrees, which has begun to explore the possibility of APsaA institutes' granting academic degrees. She believed it would be feasible but wished to know if it was desirable. Tyson emphasized the need to develop a cadre of psychoanalytic scholars and researchers. Calvern Narcisi added that if a Consortium External Credentialing Board were created, its major goal would be to obtain recognition from the Council on Higher Education Accreditation. At present CHEA only approves credentialing boards that consist of at least 50 percent degree-granting component organizations. CHEA has not yet set policy on post-degree organizations like the APsaA.
The Fellows expressed some reservations but were generally enthusiastic about the proposal. Tyson mentioned that such a program must be academically rigorous and might require sharing faculty among institutes. Rosenblitt asked for a straw vote, which when taken showed that the Fellows wished for the committee to continue its exploration.
Photo by Mervin S. Stewart
Ellen Rowntree, chair of the Committee on New Training Facilities, said her committee recommended that new training facilities have one voting Fellow on the Board and provisional institutes have two voting Fellows. The Board approved the proposal with one opposing vote and two abstentions. The proposal will be developed into a by-law amendment which, if approved by the Executive Council, will require approval of the certified membership.
Rowntree also recommended the appointment of three geographic rule training analysts. BOPS approved the appointment of Lee Shershow for Portland, Eric Kulick for Kansas City, and David Stagner for Minnesota.
The Board voted unanimously to support the further development of a position statement to fight discrimination against homosexuals, which was presented by Susan Vaughan, chair of the Joint Committee on Homosexual Issues. The statement included the points that homosexuality is not well understood and can not be assumed to represent psychopathology. It added that anti-homosexual bias is destructive and that psychoanalytic intervention should focus on understanding meaning not changing sexual orientation. A final draft will be completed soon.
Narcisi, co-chair with Leon Hoffman of the Joint Committee on External Credentialing, emphasized that the need for external credentialing has never been greater. Psychoanalytic licensing bills containing extremely low educational requirements are before New Jersey and New York legislatures. Narcisi reported that the January Psychoanalytic Consortium meeting was friendly and the threat of a lawsuit by Division 39 has faded. Both the Independent Psychoanalytic Societies and the Council of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists are moving forward in their application for membership to the Consortium.
The four Consortium member organizations, after arduous debate and compromise, have sent a proposed Standards of Analytic Training to institutes of their choosing. The American has sent the draft proposals to its societies; Narcisi commented that the External Credentialing Committee has received little feedback.
Rosenblitt reminded the Fellows that any external credentialing board would not preclude or supersede the site visits of BOPS's Committee on Institutes to APsaA institutes using APsaA training standards. He also said that the Consortium Credentialing Committee would meet again in June and that he would attend as usual. He asked for feedback from the individual institutes on the proposed standards. In accordance with the agreement with the other three Consortium member organizations, he asked for section-by-section discussion. Fellows were to consider themselves representatives of the individual institutes, who would have to interact independently, separate from the APsaA, with any external credentialing board.
Rosenblitt enumerated each of the document's eleven sections and asked for a show of hands from those Fellows who felt their institute would have trouble with the proposed standards of that section. An apparent confusion in wording made it uncertain if waivers could be given to nonmental-health candidates (which the APsaA allows). The Fellows asked for clarification.
Many Fellows believed that their institutes have difficulty with at least some of the proposed standards. The standards questioned included a minimal frequency for training analysis of three times a week (with four or five times a week the recommended frequency). A minimal training standard of two adult control cases (with a recommended standard of three cases) and a thrice-weekly frequency (with an expected frequency of four or five times a
week) for control cases also raised concern among the Fellows. They also questioned a minimal standard of 350 hours of classes. The final concern was the standard for the appointment of a training analyst: a five-year postgraduate recommended immersion standard of twenty hours a week (with cases treated at least four times a week), with a minimum standard of nine hours a week (with cases treated at least three times a week).
Rosenblitt said that because of lack of time the positive aspects of the proposed standards were not discussed. He reminded BOPS that the recommended and minimal standard concept was the major compromise in developing a document acceptable to all Consortium members. Approval to create a Consortium credentialing board requires a unanimous vote by the Consortium members. Approval by the APsaA requires a vote of approval both by BOPS and by the Executive Council, followed by a vote for approval by the APsaA certified members.
The debate about external credentialing occurred on the heels of discussion of the more recent initiative to explore ways in which established psychoanalytic institutes that are not part of the APsaA could join the Association. Chair David Carlson gave the preliminary report of the Task Force on Independent Training Facilities. Carlson underlined that any criteria should be “transparent in their objectivity and capable of general and thoroughly consistent applicability.”
The APsaA has no procedures or firsthand experience on how independent institutes could join. Carlson mentioned several critical issues: what type of affiliation would be developed; whether independent institutes would adapt to the standards of training of the American; the grandfathering of graduates and training analysts; certification; and the definition of “established” training institutes.
The American and the William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Institute have had preliminary talks, and the Southwest Center for Psychoanalytic Studies has made inquires. The report focused on White — “the most highly organized, longest established, and most in-print of the independent groups” — which has its own traditions for training. At the conclusion of the report, Richard Fox, the American's president-elect, commented that he attended a recent meeting with members of White and found them a collegial group, proud of their traditions.
Many fellows of the Board commented on areas of potential difficulty. Several Fellows wondered how White's and the American's different standards of training could be integrated. Some were concerned that if White did join the American, there could be a two-tiered organization. The task force will consider these questions, continue to gather information, and give a complete report at the December BOPS meeting.
Drew Clemens presented the preliminary report of the Council's Ad Hoc Task Force on Membership and Certification, chaired by Jonah Schein. The report suggested that certification no longer be a requirement to run for elected office (except for the chair of the Board, who is elected by the Board). The report also advised dividing by-law amendments into two types: those that affect education and those that do not. Amendments that affect BOPS would be voted upon by certified members. All other amendments would be voted upon by the complete active membership. The Executive Committee would decide the category of the amendments. Appointment to be a training analyst and appointment to the Board would continue to require certification. The task force felt the suggestions were evolutionary, not revolutionary, changes.
In the lively discussion, the Fellows were concerned that the Board could come under the control of non-certified members. The Executive Committee could then possibly have four non-certified voting members out of five. The Board expressed its apprehension that membership issues could interfere with BOPS's role of maintaining high-quality education. For example, the Executive Committee controls the Board's budget. President Bob Pyles responded that the officers of the Association represent the whole organization, not just the membership side.
In further discussion, it was mentioned that one issue was the Board's trust that non-certified members (the vast majority of whom had trained in APsaA institutes) would uphold the APsaA's educational values. It was cautioned that any vote on how the APsaA uses certification should not be seen as a referendum on certification per se. Some Fellows mentioned that the committee's proposals would still leave a two-class membership.
Rosenblitt decided not to hold a straw vote because he did not want to encourage Fellows to take opinions during a preliminary discussion.
The Board approved the training analyst appointments of Diane Fagelman Bick from Dallas, Barbara Jones from Baltimore-Washington, Nancy Kulish from Michigan, and Robert Lupi and Alan Zients from New York. From San Francisco, Richard Almond and Mary Jane Otte were appointed. Patricia Lipscomb from Seattle, James Mikolajczak from St. Louis, Dominic Mazza from Washington, and Elizabeth Brett from Western New England also were appointed.
Lawrence Chalfin, chair of Project 2000, reported that the committee had met earlier in the week and that it has received funding from outside the American for a November retreat. He said that the Affiliate Council sent a questionnaire on analytic education to nearly 1,000 candidates. Preliminary returns indicated a general level of satisfaction with the quality of education. The didactic part of the tripartite training was felt by some candidates to require attention. They raised questions about the teaching methods and the possibilities of more innovative pedagogical approaches. The Project 2000 committee has given preliminary thought to developing and improving rigorous and critical teaching.
Otto Kernberg, president of the IPA, spoke on what the IPA is doing to benefit members of the American. The IPA is becoming more cost-conscious and is decreasing administrative costs to provide increased membership benefits. Two areas of increasing importance are research and analytic involvement in the general society. Kernberg described with pride the newly created interregional conferences that bring analytic scholars from all over the world to a local venue.
Samuel Rubin gave his final report as chair of the Committee on Child and Adolescent Analysis. Ruth Karush will replace him. Rubin informed BOPS on encouraging reports from the child programs in Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Columbia. Jill Miller from Denver and Kerry Kelly Novick from Michigan were appointed child supervisors. Appointed geographic rule child supervisors to Columbia were Theodore Jacobs, Roy Lilleskov, and Albert Sax.
Nancy Brehm, president of the Affiliate Council, said that the Council is working to have the American give voting rights to its affiliate members. At present, 77 percent of candidates in the institutes of the American are affiliate members of the American.
The Board accepted the nominees for the psychoanalytic fellowship proposed by Prudence Lieb, chair of the Fellowship Committee. The committee is working with CORST with a goal of including academics in the Fellowship.
The Ad Hoc IPA Membership Committee, chaired by Robert Cummings, achieved effective methods of evaluating graduates of IPA institutes for APsaA membership. It was discharged, and its responsibilities were transferred to the BOPS Membership Committee.
Glen Gabbard, chair of the Committee on Confidentiality, reported that the committee is surveying what institutes teach about confidentiality. The committee is also developing a position statement with the Committee on Government Relations and Insurance, the Committee on Peer Review, and the Executive Committee.
Chair Lawrence Inderbitzen reported that the Committee on Psychoanalytic Education is establishing a newsletter, which will be edited by Todd Davidson.
Ralph Engle, chair of the Ethics Committee, presented the new ethics manual revision, expecting a final vote of approval. However, some minor considerations were discussed, and the vote was postponed to December.
Chair of the Certification Committee Michael Singer reported that ten applicants for certification were approved. The committee evaluated twelve first-time applications and nine continuing applications.
Phyllis Tyson was cited by the Board for her work as chair of COPAP. She shepherded the new by-law amendment on eligibility through a lengthy and complicated process. The amendment was approved by 82 percent of the certified membership. Tyson thanked the members of COPAP for their help and support. COPAP will now spend less time evaluating waiver requests and will move into the evaluation of the educational process. Calvern Narcisi will become the new chair.