The Task Force on Psychoanalytic Science was charged to review the status of psychoanalytic science and to make specific recommendations to the Association for the future development of psychoanalytic science. After an eighteen-month tenure, we will submit our final report in May in Chicago. The brevity of our appointment has helped us to remain practical and focused, despite our broad purview. Because we continued to work actively by phone conference after this article was written, what follows in this reprise of our report may differ somewhat in form and content from the final report to Board and Council in May.
Article I of the by-laws states that the purposes of the American Psychoanalytic Association are to study and advance psychoanalysis, to advocate standards for training and practice, to foster integration with other branches of science, and to encourage research. Many members of the American feel that we have carried out the professional and educational aspects of our mission more assiduously than the science and research portions. This view was generally shared by the members of the task force. There is also a widely held opinion that directing our attention to research is urgent.
During the last thirty-five years, there have been at least three task forces that suggested a more prominent position for science in the structure of the American. As a result of the first of those task force reports, written by Heinz Kohut, the Committee on Scientific Activities (CSA) was formed as a committee of Council. Robert Wallerstein was the first chair of the CSA. Five years later, at Wallerstein's initiative, the Fund for Psychoanalytic Research was formed to raise money for psychoanalytic research and support projects of excellence. While both of these groups have made signal contributions, their influence on our Association, preoccupied as it is with educational, practice, and political matters, has been severely restricted.
To respond to our members' growing perception of the need for formal psychoanalytic research, we are suggesting the creation of an expanded presence of science within the current structures of the American. Our report will be heard by both the meeting of the Board on Wednesday of the Annual Meeting and the meeting of Council on Thursday. We will present the following set of recommendations to Board and Council for action:
To create two science advisor positions, one to serve as a non-voting member of the Executive and Steering committees, the other to serve the Coordinating Committee in the same capacity. The advisors would be charged to speak for science in each of those settings.
To relocate the Committee on Scientific Activities from a council committee to a joint committee of Board and Council. This would re-emphasize and reinforce the mandated power of the CSA to appoint action-oriented subcommittees, reporting through the CSA to Board or Council as appropriate.
To expand the current Collaborative Analytic Multisite Project to serve as the nucleus for a new group of associates, analogous to the psychotherapy associates, to be called research associates. Like the psychotherapy and other associate groups, research associates would not necessarily be members of the American.
To create a Poster Section as part of the scientific program at each of our national meetings. Posters effectively and inexpensively convey formal research and enable an open exchange of new research ideas. Although new to psychoanalytic meetings, poster sessions are very common at almost all other types of scientific meetings. A subcommittee of the CSA is already exploring the concepts and methods for creating a Poster Section
To create a Board task force mandated to study problems of research education in psychoanalysis and to make recommendations to the Board for remediation of these problems. Very few of our accredited institutes educate candidates on issues relating to research and/or scientific method in the four years of didactic seminars. Probably even fewer include a research perspective in all (or even most) seminars. So long as this is true, it is unlikely that the institutes will produce graduates who are sophisticated consumers of research literature. Even less likely are graduates who see research as part of a psychoanalytic career.
To form a joint Board/Council ad hoc committee to advise local societies in the development of research programs. Research committees or programs exist within some societies and/or institutes, but not in the majority. Various local groups have different resources to apply to addressing research problems. A joint Board/Council committee with a national perspective might be in the best position to aid and support local groups, especially with locating mentors for the researchers and with the solicitation and administration of grants and fellowships. The committee would be charged to publicize actively its availability and plans.
We are presenting this set of recommendations to Board and Council as an Omnibus Science Initiative accompanied by our analysis of the financial impact. We anticipate that all of this together will have a significant positive effect for science in the American.
The development of a formal research base is one of the most pressing problems for psychoanalysis. The two most serious obstacles to establishing research-based advances in knowledge are (1) fostering career tracks for psychoanalysts in research and (2) achieving significant funding for research projects. Our recommendations hardly solve either of these matters. However, we hope that over time the enhanced presence of science, the expanded participation of research-oriented individuals, the greater visibility of their projects, and effective publicity will help the American to address and overcome these obstacles. Advances in psychoanalytic science are an urgent matter in our discipline. Supporting and disseminating these advances are essential for our Association.
Allan Compton, M.D., chairs the Ad Hoc Strategic Task Force on Psychoanalytic Science. He is president of the Los Angeles Center for Psychoanalytic Research.
To aid funding of psychoanalytic research by coordinating our efforts with other organizations and consolidating efforts within our own organization. We suggest the appointment of a Coordinating Task Force, with representatives from Board, Council, Executive Committee, the Fund for Psychoanalytic Research, and the American Psychoanalytic Foundation to work out the necessary procedures for optimal fundraising and use of funds.