In previous columns, I pointed out how APsaA devotes a great deal of member and financial resources to promote the role of psychoanalysis and the contributions of psychoanalytic ideas to the community at large.
This, my last column as chair of the Membership Committee, looks at the role of education and research for members of the Association.
Through the Board on Professional Standards, APsaA's commitment to educational quality makes it a beacon for psychoanalytic education, nationally and internationally. In this regard, COPE, which has been in existence for four decades, identifies significant problems and issues in psychoanalytic education and devises means to study and improve them. Its purpose is “to educate the educators.”
APsaA, through the work of the Board, tries to provide national input into all aspects of local institute life through periodic site visits, so that each institute remains current and continues to adapt to the challenges of our contemporary culture. Finally, our Association tries to provide a meaningful certification process, persevering through the ongoing contention surrounding this issue.
The new non-membership category of Research Associate is available for research scientists, research-oriented clinicians, and others with an interest in psychoanalytically oriented research. The Committee on Research Associates of the American Psychoanalytic Association (RAAPA) conducts an open forum at the national meetings where new and ongoing empirical research is presented and discussed.
The Fund for Psychoanalytic Research supports basic and applied research involving psychoanalytic perspectives and observations; supports young scholars interested in psychoanalytic research; provides psychoanalytic scholars an opportunity to consult with experienced investigators around an idea, methodological issue, or existing data set; and provides opportunities for beginning psychoanalytic investigators to meet individually and as a group with experienced investigators.
It is my pleasure to introduce Zenobia (Zoe) Grusky, the new chair of the Membership Committee. Zoe is smart, energetic, and full of great ideas. In the next membership column, she will describe her ideas about mid-career analysts—recent graduates who are trying to begin their participation as active members in APsaA.
This column, describing the benefits of membership in APsaA, will appear from time to time. For a full list of benefits, see and click on “Member Benefits.”