As I write this, it is MLK Day. Thousands are still dying of Covid and our nation is still convulsing after the worst domestic terrorism attack since the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995. I remember that April day well. I was living and practicing in Cambridge, Massachusetts, pregnant and tired after a long day when I heard the news of the bombing from my last patient. I was dumfounded then and afraid for my unborn child. What kind of country would she grow up in? Fast forward 26 years later and I was dumbfounded again as I saw the news of the Confederate flag in our Capitol. As a child of the South, I was heartbroken, ashamed, and scared. What kind of country indeed?
By now, the insurrection in Washington is old news. The pundits are pronouncing and the images of the enraged mob of white supremacists storming the Capitol, like the images of 911, are forever burned into our memory, individually and collectively as a nation. Shocking. Disturbing. Frightening. And, not surprising. Amazingly, our law enforcers and law makers on both sides of the aisle prevailed, working through the night, frightened and traumatized no doubt, to carry on and carry out their duty to uphold the Constitution. It was an extraordinary show of courage and leadership. The center held, and our democracy, though wounded, survived. But the rage, the hatred and the division will not go away magically or any time soon.
As I step into this new role as TAP's psychotherapy editor, I wonder what I can possibly write that holds any meaning in light of these events. The only thing that bubbles up to the surface is this: Truth matters. Leadership matters. Words matter. Using your power for good matters. It's what we do as analytic clinicians: We lead with our better angels (hopefully) and grapple honestly with our demons as they surface. We face hard truths about ourselves, our relationships, our work, our organizations, and our communities. We help make meaning by making space for dialog, reflection, dreaming, and for thinking and feeling. And, yes, when necessary, for intervention and action. The personal is political and the political is personal.
The Psychotherapy Department…offers programming for psychotherapists, analysts, and others, as well as support for the 36 psychotherapy programs across the country.
Right now, APsaA, like the nation, is at an inflexion point. Do we open the doors wider to the world or stay isolated and insular as we watch our numbers dwindle, our inspired programming go unnoticed, and the next generation of clinicians miss out on the richness that analytic thinking and training can offer?
Luckily, we have visionary leaders who are encouraging an internal reckoning and a reimagining of the organization as a more inclusive and open place. As a psychotherapy member of the Task Force on Expanded Membership, I can say it is hard work. I witness the struggle as analysts, psychotherapists, and academics ponder and debate the questions and challenges posed. It is good work. This past year, like with our clinical work, external events have impinged upon this organizational work. APsaA pivoted and responded with flexibility and a generosity of spirit—witness the open and inclusive town halls and the Covid peer groups where we not only offered support to our suffering colleagues, but we got support too. Imagine. A more inclusive and open home for analytic clinicians of all stripes, scholars, and researchers. It seems to me there is more that unites us than divides us internally. Externally, we have much to offer the world with our insights on human nature and groups, both large and small, honed from years of study and close listening to our patients as they discover their own truths and knit together the frayed edges of their characters and narratives.
In this new column, I will shine a light on various activities and members of the Psychotherapy Department. I plan to include psychotherapy writers and researchers who are thinking interesting thoughts and doing interesting things. The Psychotherapy Department has been an active, if little known group, working steadily for the past 11 years within APsaA. Through its two standing committees, it offers programming for
Ann H. Dart, LCSW, a psychotherapist practicing in Portland, Oregon, teaches/supervises at the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center; chairs Community Outreach; and co-chairs APsaA's COPPTP. She graduated from Tulane University School of Social Work and Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute's Advanced Psychotherapy Training Program.
psychotherapists, analysts, and others, as well as support for the 36 psychotherapy programs across the country. One of our most important goals is to offer a home within APsaA for psychoanalytic psychotherapists to gather for collegial interaction at the meetings and in-between online.
The programming work of the Psychotherapy Department is done through its two standing committees. The Psychotherapist Associate Committee (PA), which represents 300+ analytically trained or inclined therapists. The PA Committee offers a discussion group at the meetings of interest to all who conduct psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The topic at the February meetings was “From Persecution to Psychic Birth: Countertransference & Transference from an Object Relations Perspective.” Another program offered by the PA Committee is “The Business of Practice” workshop series. This year's topic was “Navigating Boredom.” The Department also sponsors a recurring discussion group, “Psychoanalysis & Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Comparison,” as well as a two-day clinical workshop, “Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.” These programs have been well attended by psychotherapists, candidates, fellows, students, and analysts for many years and are built upon a spirit of inclusion and welcome to all.
The other standing committee of the Psychotherapy Department is the Committee on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Programs (COPPTP). Its mission is to track trends in psychotherapy education and offer relevant programming to training directors and faculty at the winter meetings. Last year's topic was “Considering Diversity with Faculty and Students.” This year's topic was “Engaging the Remote: Teaching in a Time of Covid.”
The Psychotherapy Department was founded in 2010 by Dick Fox. A visionary leader, Fox chose Carol Reichenthal, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, as his co-chair. They welcomed and encouraged psychotherapists to join as associates. This was a first in the history of APsaA. We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Fox and Reichenthal did much for psychotherapists at APsaA, as did many other dedicated analytic therapists and analysts, too many to name here. Before the department was formed, Alan Pollack, long a champion of psychotherapists, offered a two-day clinical workshop for psychotherapists at the meetings. It was the only program available to therapists for many years. He and Sally Rosenburg, also hosted a forum (later the COPPTP) at the meetings for psychotherapy training directors and faculty where they could gather and share ideas and solutions to take home to their burgeoning programs. In fact, over the last two decades, APsaA psychotherapy programs have trained hundreds of psychoanalytic psychotherapists. These students and graduates are some of the most diverse and energetic among our ranks. They, along with the candidates, are the future.
In coming issues of TAP, I will profile our psychotherapists. In this issue, Linda Michaels, from Chicago, describes her experience in “Joining the Family Business.” Please join me in delighting in her story and in the stories to come.