Debates at the December Board and Council meetings showed that many questions linger in the minds of some fellows and councilors about enfranchisement of affiliate members. Some consider the proposal such a momentous change in the structure of the American that they need more time to consider the recommendation. Clearly, more discussion is needed. I hope this discussion will take place, at least in part, in dialogue between candidates and the fellows and councilors of our institutes and societies. With that goal in mind, I would like to offer an affiliate members perspective on the issue of the affiliate vote.
The question of suffrage for affiliate members was brought up for discussion and a vote at the Affiliate Council in December, 1998. Affiliates almost unanimously agreed that it was in the best interest of all members of the American for affiliate members to be granted the right to vote on issues of governance in the American.
The representative candidate today is a mature professional with years of clinical experience. Today's candidates are being trained at a time when the APsaA spirit is one of facilitation and inclusion. Thus they are more likely to regard the American as a source of empowerment. This sense of belonging to an organization that lends strength generates a dedication to the goals of the American and motivates candidates to get involved early in the vital work of the organization.
Currently, affiliate members are serving capably on many key committees. Members of these committees have come to recognize the value of the candidate's perspective and of candidates' significant additions to the integral workings of the committees.
The right to vote would not be offered to candidates, but rather to affiliate members of the American. Having the right to vote can only enhance the affiliate members' sense of allegiance to the American, motivating them to become members early in their careers and to work with other APsaA members to build a better, evolving national psychoanalytic community. This sense of commitment will help develop leaders. The American needs the support of involved, voting affiliate members.
I'd like to address some of the concerns I have heard mentioned by fellows, councilors, and others in the last year:
Affiliates may not understand the governance structure or the history of important issues in the American.
Affiliate members have no established procedure for informing candidates about the latest challenges facing the organization.
Affiliate members are unknown entities. An affiliate's ultimate success is not known; that is, a candidate might not graduate.
The right to vote in the American may in some way interfere with the transference relationship between candidate and analyst.
Transferences may overly influence the candidate to vote on issues as his or her analyst, supervisors, or teachers would vote, rather than following personal choice.
Affiliate members may vote en bloc.
Affiliates would have influence over issues pertaining to their own training. They may be more easily influenced to advocate the dissolution of some of the American's most basic standards of quality psychoanalytic education.
Photo by Mervin Stewart
For some time, the Affiliate Council has been capably informing affiliate members about the structure and history of the American. We continue to devise improved methods for informing affiliate members about important issues facing the American. Candidates read TAP and subscribe to the American's online discussion sites. We have our own newsletter. Affiliate Council delegates are encouraged to report the events of the meetings to candidates at home who have not been able to attend. Our Local Candidates Outreach Organization encourages the development of local candidates' organizations and increased communication among local groups. Affiliate members are among the most thoroughly informed members of the American today.
Affiliate members, as a group of potential voters, are no less known than other members. Candidates have been selected for training based on very specific criteria. They either are involved in or have recently completed an analysis. They are supervised, and their progress is documented and monitored. Consequently, candidates are more intimately understood as individuals and as a group than are graduate analysts. The transference-related questions are important. The answers may depend on each analyst's personal theory about transference. But I do not think it is controversial to say that transference should be analyzed and that grist for the mill is unavoidable. While too much grist can grind the mill to a halt, candidates' having voting privileges in our national organization does not pose such a danger. Affiliate members hold their own opinions and are not more easily influenced than are graduate analysts. They are as capable as graduate analysts of recognizing the influences of transference. Transference is always with us. The influence of transference in analysis does not end with termination or graduation.
It is true that with enfranchisement, affiliates will have a voice in shaping their own education. The advantages of this are clear. Most American candidates have chosen to be trained in American institutes because of the quality of the education available there. The affiliate member is thoroughly invested in maintaining the high standards of psychoanalytic education the American has provided for so many years.
Affiliates welcome further study of the merits and concerns surrounding this issue. I believe when the concerns have been defined and the answers considered, there will be much less concern about the wisdom of affiliate enfranchisement.
The American is an organization of dedicated psychoanalysts who care about their profession and know the value of self-understanding. In response to difficult problems, the American has adapted, maintaining an organization that serves its members well. The Affiliate Council has become one of the American's developing sources of strength. As president of the Affiliate Council for the next two years, I am pleased and honored to be part of this evolving process. I look forward with hope and confidence in the American's strength and in the advancement of psychoanalysis as a helping profession.
Jane Walvoord, L.M.S.W.-A.C.P., is a candidate at the Dallas Psychoanalytic Institute. She is president of the Affiliate Council.