May 4, 2005
Dear Colleagues
It is my pleasure to write to you once again as President of AAPI. I want
to thank you for your past support of our organization, and to urge you
strongly to continue that support by renewing your membership for the current
year. I am enclosing for your information several documents of great
importance to all of us in AAPI, along with a membership renewal form. These
documents, taken together, address the most frequently asked questions
regarding our organization, including why its continued existence is so
important to all autonomous, independent, free standing psychoanalytic
associations and their membership; the guiding principles of this singular
organization; and the criteria for membership for both the Autonomous
Institutes and the Autonomous Psychoanalysts who together comprise the two
categories of membership in AAPI.
I’m writing to you at this time also to stress the importance of this
particular juncture in psychoanalytic history. Now is the time, in some
geographic areas, when the credentialing of psychoanalytic practitioners is
actually coming into realization. In New Jersey and New York it has already
begun to happen, and efforts are currently being made toward this end in Los
Angeles, as well. This means that in the future, license to practice
Psychoanalysis may become the province of State or Local government in these
and other areas throughout the country. For independent psychoanalytic
institutes and independent analysts to have a voice in the psychoanalytic
training requirements set forth by such State or National agencies, not to
mention to be included in the benefits of licensure that may be offered by
newly formed accrediting agencies, organizations such as AAPI must achieve
sufficient strength in numbers, particularly in numbers of individual
memberships, to exert a strong influence. We urge you to fortify our
organization by renewing your commitment to AAPI membership today.
While the political motives for joining AAPI addressed above do seem to
have particular relevance today, I certainly would not want to in any way
suggest that the aims and purposes of this organization are limited to these
issues alone. Our reasons for embarking on this enterprise remain strongly
those that initiated our interest in the first place: to provide a wide
professional network for the numerous highly reputable psychoanalytic
institutes and their membership established across the United States and
around the world, institutes that are both interdisciplinary and
multi-theoretical in nature, and that choose to remain independent of large,
hierarchically organized, standard-setting bodies such as the American
Psychoanalytic Association and the International Psychoanalytic Association.
Such are the autonomous institutes that make up the complement of AAPI, and
our goal as an organization remains that of promoting fellowship and
scholarship among these institutes who are committed to independence from
governing bodies, and who remain respectful of the theoretical and clinical
diversity that make up their membership.
We are increasingly concerned to enhance communication among the national
and international affiliate institutes of AAPI and our individual members.
Members are listed on our Website Directory for purposes of national and
international networking and referrals; are eligible for group benefit rates
on insurance, will receive announcements regarding current licensure and
legislative issues, and save money on AAPI Conference fees. In addition,
members will have access to future educational opportunities such as Online
Colloquiums sponsored by AAPI and program announcements offered via our
website by our Affiliate Institutes.
There are many reasons for continuing your membership in AAPI, and the
reasons will grow and strengthen as our membership grows and strengthens. I’m
asking you to support AAPI and to encourage others in your Affiliate Institute
to do the same. In the meantime, if there are any questions about our
organization, or if you wish to suggest ways in which we can serve you more
effectively, please either contact me, or your Affiliate Institute
Representative, or Myra Karse, our new Executive Director.
Cordially,
Estelle Shane, Ph.D.
