Writing a president's column in June that won't come out until October feels like putting something in a time capsule given the pace of change in our world. It's been a whirlwind since we took office in February when our friend, Lee Jaffe stepped down. First the covid pandemic and global panic, followed by the national reckoning with racism. We're proud APsaA has rallied to meet covid and address racism. These cataclysmic events put our internal struggles in perspective and illuminate separate but related developments that are revitalizing APsaA and rendering psychoanalysis more relevant and accessible. A vision is emerging that reimagines APsaA's future.
Over the years our leading role has ebbed as we aged and fought over internal matters, while the world evolved around us. Things are changing in the new APsaA, with many positive trends emerging; if we pursue these developments, APsaA becomes reimagined and will claim its leading role in all the applications of psychoanalysis while preserving excellence and advancing psychoanalytic thought and practice.
When the pandemic hit, we quickly reached out to the public and to the wider mental health community. We provided psychoanalytically informed mental health resources to the public. Our trainings and peer consultation groups for mental health professionals suddenly switching to online platforms were made available free of charge. Ditto for the well-attended Town Halls, which we opened up beyond our organizational borders. The wider psychoanalytic community has responded, and it's been a breath of fresh air to see so many new faces joining familiar ones.
The Psychotherapy Membership Task Force will have a proposal in February 2021 for full membership for psychotherapists and, very likely, for academics and researchers as well. Psychoanalytic training will have its own division with designated authority, and the new categories will have full membership rights, including voting and holding office. APsaA's support of research and advocacy raises the credibility and profile of psychoanalysis in all its applications. Many of our institutes have successful psychotherapy training programs that complement psychoanalytic training. Several of our approved centers/societies have strengthened themselves by welcoming psychotherapists as full members and APsaA can similarly benefit from broadening its membership.
Expanding membership supports our goal of being more diverse and anti-racist. Our previous efforts have made inroads but lost steam as we turned our attention to other concerns. To successfully address racism, we need to really mean it and follow through, including looking at unconscious and structural barriers to progress. We're forming an advisory group, seeking consultation, and aim to have a comprehensive, sustainable plan operating in the fall.
A distinction is often made between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. We do not see this as a dichotomy, but instead view psychoanalytic thinking as underpinning many forms of treatment. Exposure to psychoanalysis motivates therapists to want more for themselves and for their patients. Some will want full analytic training; others
Bill Glover, PhD, is president of APsaA.
Kerry Sulkowicz, M.D., is president-elect.
will practice psychotherapy or apply psychoanalysis in other fields. APsaA can support the full breadth of psychoanalytic thought and practice. We believe that welcoming psychotherapists, researchers, and academics to join APsaA as full members will help sustain psychoanalysis, not dilute it.
APsaA's reimagining extends to our relations with the IPA and, through the North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (NAPsaC), the other IPA societies in North America, the independent societies in the U.S., and the Canadian Psychoanalytic Association. APsaA's special status in the IPA as the only Regional Association has engendered resentment of “American Exceptionalism.” This special status does not serve the new APsaA and can be relinquished without compromising our autonomy so we can work as equals with our international allies. We hope the IPA will join us in opening itself to greater diversity and alliance with the legions of psychoanalytically oriented therapists, thinkers, and researchers around the world.
On a fast break in basketball, players throw the ball ahead and the team catches up to it to finish the play. In these cataclysmic times APsaA has a chance for a fast break. Instead of the usual glacial pace of change, we have a unique opportunity to seize the moment and realize our potential. This column represents a metaphoric throwing the ball ahead; let's see if we can catch up to it and finish the play—transforming APsaA into a more modern, diverse, exciting, and welcoming leader of the contemporary psychoanalytic movement.