Our Politics of Old Are Inadequate for the 21st Century

Why APsaA should be an incubator for psychoanalysis, not a museum.

Dear Colleagues (known and not-known-yet):

Even if by now many of you are sick and tired of lengthy campaign mailings and emails; and especially if you are tired of politics (as usual or otherwise), please do me two favors: 1) cast your vote in the current election, if only out of civic virtue, and 2) read the next few paragraphs to see if any of this might actually matter to you. I hope it does. I promise to be as brief as I can.

It might not be easy for most of you to distinguish between the positions of the candidates running for the presidency of APsaA. BUT before you say “tweedledum or tweedledee”, here’s why I think this election is so important:

Our organization once confined itself to psychiatrists only; and for decades we have often confined ourselves largely to American ego psychology; and today we are still confining ourselves: via outdated processes of certification, via an exclusionary link between this procedure and TA status, and via outmoded institute “rules” that are frankly driving many excellent candidates to independent institutes.

In this environment it shouldn’t be radical to suggest that our certification process needs to garner the faith of both the public and the much broadened mental health community by being national and independent; nor is it radical to suggest that our local institutes need to have more autonomy in how they want to determine and qualify who is capable of training and analyzing candidates. On at least these two basic issues, my stance is longstanding, unequivocal, and distinctive.

As your Treasurer for the past five years, and as someone deeply involved in this organization, I have seen how we continue to hurt ourselves with endless debates that have too often been mere excuses for excluding very qualified people, and ideas, from our organization. Without losing our reputation for quality and depth, our organization should and must become a greater umbrella for the diversity of practice, theory, candidates and analysts that everywhere are part of the renewed vibrancy of psychoanalysis in America.

I apologize if these seem like niggling issues to some. But if indeed you want our organization to proceed thoughtfully in the direction of greater transparency, diversity, and democracy, without any diminution in its quality and value, then I humbly ask that you at least take the minimum step towards involvement and send in your ballot. I will do everything I can to be worthy of your vote. I am passionate about making our organization the best it can be, for all of us and that means embracing meaningful change rather than standing in place.

Warren