The Fall Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association will be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City from Wednesday, December 13, through Sunday, December 17. A scintillating program has been planned. The program itself is reason enough to attend, but this may be one of our last meetings at the Waldorf. Being at this prestigious hotel during New York's holiday gaiety will make it an even more special time.
The meeting begins Wednesday morning with an array of interesting discussion groups. A senior analyst clinical presentation program will be available Wednesday morning and afternoon. Wednesday afternoon will include still more discussion groups, and in the early evening two two-day clinical workshops will begin. On this first night, the first workshop begins with Elizabeth Spillius from London; the second workshop will feature Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel from Paris. These clinical workshops with invited senior clinicians have proven extremely interesting and clinically valuable.
Thursday morning begins with an oral history workshop on “Women in Psychoanalysis,” Part 5, led by Nellie L. Thompson. The CORST Essay Prize in Psychoanalysis and Culture will be awarded on Thursday morning. Featured on Thursday afternoon will be a forum on “Analytic Identity: Innovations in Psychoanalytic Education,” co-sponsored by the Affiliate Council and Project 2000, with Robert Michels and Ellen Rees as presenters; a psychoanalytic course chaired by Charles Brenner on “Conflict and Compromise Formation”; and a two-session film workshop chaired by Bruce H. Sklarew. More discussion groups will be held on Thursday morning and afternoon.
Friday morning offers the business meeting of members and the plenary address by APsaA immediate past president Bob Pyles. Following the plenary address is the “In-Depth on Art, Culture and Politics,” forum; this fall's theme is “Freud's Vienna, Fin de Siècle: Innovation and Turmoil Within Its Art, Culture, and Politics.” Chaired by Morris L. Peltz, the program will also offer contributions by panelists Peter Gay, Donald Kuspit, Peter Loewenberg, Julie Jaffee Nagel, and Louis Nagel. The Affiliate Council Scientific Paper Prize will be awarded on Friday morning, and that event will be chaired by Nancy Brehm and Joan Lynch.
Friday afternoon features a panel on “Clinical Uses of Envy,” chaired by Jane V. Kite, with panelists Rita V. Frankiel, Adrienne Harris, and Elizabeth Spillius, and Irene Cairo Chiarandini as reporter. A seminar, “Foucault for Psychoanalysts: Re-thinking Sexuality, Pornography, and What's Narrative,” will be chaired by Doris Silverman. Friday afternoon also offers an interdisciplinary colloquium on “Psychoanalysis and Anthropology,” chaired by Daniel M. A. Freeman, with presentations by Mikym Kim, Nancy Abelman, and Shin-Hee Han. Numerous scientific papers will be presented and discussed on Friday and Saturday, and there will be a plenary presentation with Ethel Spector Person as the speaker.
Saturday morning features the panel “Dangerous Behavior in Children and Adolescents,” chaired by Judith Fingert Chused, with contributions by Steven Marans, Dominic L. Mazza, Stuart W. Twemlow, and Alan B. Zients. A third panel, on Saturday afternoon, will be “What Do We Mean by ‘Conflict’ in Contemporary Clinical Work?” chaired by Henry F. Smith, with panelists Dale Boesky, Philip M. Bromberg, and Steven H. Cooper. Saturday afternoon also offers a “Meet the Author” session on Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel's Creativity and Perversion, with discussions by Nancy Chodorow and Steven M. Rittenberg and chaired by Otto F. Kernberg.
Finally, on Sunday, the fourth panel, “Female Aggression,” will be chaired by Ruth S. Fischer, with panelists T. Wayne Downey, Rhoda S. Frenkel, and Ethel Spector Person. Nancy Kulish and Malkah T. Notman will be the discussants and Ruth S. Garfield the reporter.
On Saturday and Sunday, several interdisciplinary seminars and colloquia will be offered: “Dreams and Their Use in Psychotherapy,” “Psychoanalysis and Literary Criticism,” “The Clinical Applications of Self Psychology,” and “Art and Psychoanalysis.”
The meeting represents a wide variety of views from all over the world and from many different theoretical perspectives. The combination of an interesting meeting and New York in all its winter finery presents an irresistible opportunity.
Photo by Mervin Stewart