On June 9, 2005, Jerome Winer of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis received the Award for Extraordinary Meritorious Service to the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). The award was presented by IPA treasurer Nadine Levinson at the Executive Council session at APsaA's 94th Annual Meeting in Seattle.
Winer received the award for his service as chair of the Committee on Ethics for the IPA, a position he assumed in 1997 during the presidency of Otto Kernberg. Prior to his tenure as chairman, the committee had existed with a smaller membership under the leadership of Paulina Kernberg, but an official, unified ethics code had never been adopted. Aided by IPA attorney Tom Asher, a Massachusetts based specialist in international law, Winer formed an 18-member committee representing the International's three zones. Co-chair Edward Nersessian headed the North American Zone, Romulo Lander the Latin American, and Jorge Canestri, who assumed chairmanship after Winer's term ended, headed the European Zone.
Robert Tyson, secretary general of the International during the revised committee's initial years, describes the task it faced:
This original committee had input from the American Psychoanalytic Association, as well as many other sources, which Winer and his colleagues integrated into two documents. One dealt with ethical principles and the other with procedures for their implementation. The drafts were distributed to all IPA societies with requests for feedback, which Winer and his committee processed into the final form of the new procedural code dealing with ethics. This code was passed by the Executive council in July 1999.
Kernberg attributes the panel's success, in part, to the particular talents that Winer brought to his job. “He was one of our most effective committee leaders in the way he dealt with a delicate issue; always calm, cool, not letting himself get drawn into controversy. Because of this, his opinion was always respected. In his quiet way he was most efficient and a pleasure to work with,” Kernberg says.
“He was one of our most effective committee leaders in the way he dealt with a delicate issue; always calm, cool, not letting himself get drawn into controversy. Because of this, his opinion was always respected.”
Matters of ethics in psychoanalytic organizations have long been a part of Winer's curriculum vitae. He was initially approached by Kernberg and Tyson when he was a member of APsaA's Committee on Psychoanalytic Education (COPE). As a COPE member, Winer had formed a study group to look into the problem of faculty analysts who may become impaired due to age, physical or mental illness, or other debilitating events. When the group became a committee of the Board on Professional Standards, he served as its first chair.
As a result of this study, Winer wrote the article, “BOPS Studies the Functionally Impaired Analyst,” for a 1993 issue of TAP (Vol. 23, No. 2). In his piece he listed some of the numerous challenges that analytic institutes face in dealing with a member's impairment, including fear of becoming entangled in retaliatory legal action with a colleague and friend, a feeling of “there but for the grace of God go I” toward the impaired party, concern for the financial hardships that forced retirement might bring, and the lack of an accepted means of challenging a senior analyst's authority. He also outlined his proposal for APsaA's establishing a Psychoanalytic Assistance Committee to advise local institutes on creating impairment committees of their own.
“Our goal,” Winer comments, “was to have a committee in every institute so that members could get the assistance they need to get back into practice unimpaired or to transition out with dignity.”
Phase II of the ongoing work involves providing assistance to psychoanalytic societies in creating their own panels to deal with issues of impaired analysts before professional ethics violations occur.
Once in service to IPA, Winer says, he discovered unique challenges and rewards involved with doing international work. One of the most positive aspects of the job was getting to know people worldwide and finding out what kinds of ethical issues come up in various locales. He also credits a certain amount of the group's ability to work so effectively together on the recent ubiquity of Internet access. “The electronic age, just coming into being at that time, made communication possible,” he says. “We were able to communicate via e-mail with 18 committee members. Not having this ability may be one reason it was never done before.”
Tyson agrees, adding, “This was a landmark for IPA, and required Winer to adjudicate multiple standards, notions, and practices from more than 60 societies and in more than 20 languages. He served in exemplary fashion. There should be an ‘Order of the Purple Couch’ and he, its recipient.”
The Extraordinary Meritorious Service Award replaced the IPA Distinguished Service Certificate in 1999. Since then, recipients have included David Sachs, Inga Villarreal, Anne-Marie Sandler, John S. Kafka, and Han Groen-Prakken all in 1999, and Ethel Specter Person in 2001.
Rebecca Meredith, M.A., is a second-year candidate at Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has a private practice in Bellevue, Washington, where she sees children and adults in psychodynamic psychotherapy and adults in psychoanalysis.