Welcome to the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The Program Committee, APsaA officers and staff invite you to page through our June preliminary program. We urge you to join us in gorgeous San Francisco to experience once again (or for the first time) the new features and “old reliables” of our streamlined Annual Meeting.
Among the offerings at the June meeting, our clinical events are a standout. Alice Jones will present a case at the Clinical Plenary, chaired by Nancy Kulish, with discussions by Aisha Abbasi and Ellen Pinsky. We will feature a film, Black Psychoanalysts Speak, followed by audience discussion led by Francisco Gonzalez, Forrest Hamer and Donald Moss. Among our popular Two-Day Clinical Workshops are featured discussants: Dominique Scarfone, Anton Kris, Eslee Samberg, Wendy Stern and Alan Sugarman.
We also are pleased to offer another cutting edge panel that offers both a clinical and theoretical presentation, “The Subjective Experience of Time,” with presentations by Stephen Seligman and Dominique Scarfone, and with discussions by Robert Stolorow and Blakey Vermeule. Speakers at our lively Psychoanalysis Here and Now program, chaired by Hans Agrawal, will feature talks by Robert Galatzer-Levy, Joseph Lichtenberg, Mary Margaret McClure, Robert Stolorow and Joan Wheelis. A reception will follow, giving participants time to have a drink, mingle and share ideas stimulated by the talks.
For our Meet the Authors session this spring, we are fortunate to feature two authors who integrate philosophical and psychoanalytic ideas in the understanding of clinical and organizational work: Robert Stolorow and Kate Schechter. This session offers participants an extended opportunity to exchange ideas with both established and upcoming writers. Be sure to check them out. And do not miss our two new Practice-Building Workshops: Audrey Kavka will offer a program, “Just Do It: Bringing Professional Wills into Your Practice Routine,” combining a practical focus with an opportunity to share personal narratives. This program will help participants prepare for the ending of their practice with the same thoughtfulness with which they began it. Another practice-building workshop will feature Robert Galatzer-Levy, who will share his perspectives and advice concerning the “Psychoanalyst as Expert Witness.” Our Ticho lecturer this year will be Andrew Gerber, who will focus on “Research-Supported Treatments, Research Domain Criteria and the Clinical Science Model.”
The University Forum will feature another outstanding program, “The Unseen and the Unheard: South African and Indian Responses to Social Invisibility and Psychic Pain.” Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, and Raka Ray, two internationally recognized experts on the traumatic effects of apartheid and poor peoples' social movements in India will present their groundbreaking work. Nancy Chodorow, a prominent sociologist and psychoanalyst, will discuss how psychoanalysis might contribute meaningfully to an understanding of construction and amelioration of these pressing social problems.
As always, there will be an array of Discussion Groups to attend, including long-standing groups and some new offerings. New discussion groups include: “Ethical Dilemmas in Psychoanalytic Institutes” and “Neuroscience Perspectives on Psychoanalysis.” Participants often tell us that one of the most compelling features of our discussion groups is the opportunity to form enduring ties with colleagues while sharing ideas and clinical vignettes in a smaller, more intimate setting.
Finally, do not miss the great open house and cocktail party hosted by the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis in honor of our visit to their city. Gary Grossman and his local arrangements committee have worked hard to help assure you will not only learn but have some fun as well.
Hope to see you there.
Editor's Note:
See page 17 for instructions on taking part in APsaA's scientific program.
Christine C. Kieffer, Ph.D., ABPP, The chair of the Program Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association.