More interesting work than you may realize is going on within APsaA and between APsaA and the surrounding world. When we meet next in person in New York City, for the first time in the month of February and for the first time at the New York Hilton, there will be a lot to catch up on. Fellow members and administrative staff are engaged in an impressive number of initiatives and collaborations that benefit the profession and therefore all of us. The unifying theme in my mind has become “translation.” That is, APsaA is communicating in various ways and with greater impact what psychoanalysis through its focus on the unconscious mind brings to the clinical, scientific and social world that is unique and deeply beneficial.
What I can offer in this limited space is a quick and necessarily incomplete tour. What APsaA is doing includes exciting efforts you can be proud of. I will give you a taste of it and encourage you to engage with any aspect that interests you.
On the clinical front, the Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) and the Program Committee are advancing the education of psychoanalysts, from candidates to graduates (and interested non-analysts), in new and impressive ways. The education of candidates is being thought about developmentally: Psychoanalytic education is seen as a lifelong endeavor. The job of candidate education is being defined as preparing candidates to think critically, to rely on data to assess clinical theories, and to think broadly about their potential activities as graduate analysts. The sections and forums of the DPE reflect these goals. Each structural feature of the DPE is devoted to the exchange of ideas and the creation of new educational approaches within institutes and new scholarly collaborations with allied disciplines. Through open exchange, rigorous thinking and creative problem solving, the DPE is modeling—and translating—for our candidates and us the immense clinical benefit that accrues through the combination of a psychoanalytic focus on the unconscious mind and an awareness of the environment within which one practices. Similarly, the Program Committee offers in February an excellent scientific program that updates our knowledge and challenges our notions of what it means to be a psychoanalyst in today's changing world.
APsaA is communicating…with greater impact what psychoanalysis through its focus on the unconscious mind brings to the clinical, scientific and social world that is unique and deeply beneficial.
On the scientific front, APsaA's Science Department is paying close attention to the accomplishments and needs of established analytic researchers, the mentoring of young researchers, the communication of what is known about the efficacy of dynamic therapies, the provision of seed funds for projects that hold promise of further development, and the design of a large “n” project that collects data on the outcomes of psychoanalytic treatments. The Science Department is founding a “College of Psychoanalytic Researchers” that will provide a home for established analytic researchers and promote mentoring relationships for developing researchers. There are active collaborations underway between the
Science Department, the DPE and the Committee on Public Information (CPI). A member of the Science Department steering committee is on the DPE steering committee and will augment the DPE research section's access to educational resources. The CPI is aiding the dissemination of news and knowledge about analytic research to the broader world.
The social impact of APsaA as an organization and of individual APsaA members has grown in volume and importance. Those APsaA members who are active in the Duty to Warn group have made multiple contributions to public awareness of the fragility and danger they see in the mental/emotional functioning of the President. From videotaped interviews widely viewed on the internet to a recent book that quickly became a best seller, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, APsaA members have contributed a psychoanalytic point of view to public discourse about the presidency.
APsaA members do not universally endorse the translation of the clinical duty to warn mandate into a sociopolitical one. APsaA itself as an organization is committed to speaking to issues about which it has relevant expertise, but not about public figures. Through CPI, aided greatly by our director of public information, APsaA has become very active on social media addressing such issues as gun violence, health care, immigration, hurricanes, hate groups and LGBTQ rights.
Given the passionate and often polarized views among ourselves (as well as in the general population) on the best way to impact national politics, I want to remind us of a feature of the Community Vision that the Executive Council approved in June and is currently being taken to next steps of implementation by a second task force. The guideline that offers us necessary room to agree as well as disagree on alarming matters is respectful disagreement. There is a strange irony in the occurrence of analysts' compromised ability to listen respectfully to one another when they strongly disagree, since we know more than most how tone can distort intent and impair effective communication and cooperation. In February, we will be able to debate in person, both in various groups and at the Presidential Symposium, what constitutes ethical and effective psychoanalytic participation in the public domain. I hope our Community Vision and sharpened attention to how we interact with one another will support the translation of our passionate disagreements into creative, collaborative solutions.