Letter from the United States

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Acknowledgment

I wish to thank Thomas A. Bartlett, MA, for his detailed comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. NAAP is ‘The National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis’ and organization of non‐medical psychoanalysts founded in 1972 with about 1000 members, most of whom practice in the New York City metropolitan area.

2. The New York City metropolitan area is the ‘Mecca’ of pychoanalysis in the United States with three training institutes ‘approved’ by APsaA, and two recognized directly by the IPA. In addition, prior to the enactment of the licensing law there were said to be an additional sixty or so ‘psychoanalytic training institutes’ in the New York City area.

3. While the term ‘certification’ was not used explicitly at that time, about 30 years later the name of the Membership Committee was changed to ‘Certification Committee’ and all the members of APsaA at that time were declared to be ‘Certified in Psychoanalysis.’

4. A 2002 survey of the APsaA membership on the issue of certification showed that two‐thirds of the certified members support the position that APsaA should conduct certification of graduate analysts, while about 70% of the non‐certified graduate members were opposed to APsaA’s conducting certification of graduate analysts. 60% of Affiliate Members were also opposed.