Psychoanalysis—More Than a Profession: Presidential Address, American Psychoanalytic Association, New York, February 3, 2023

Abstract

This plenary address was delivered just before learning the successful outcome of a bylaw amendment extending full American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) membership to psychoanalytic psychotherapists, researchers, scholars, and all who share a commitment to psychoanalysis. This historic change culminated efforts over the previous four decades to rectify exclusionary harms and revitalize psychoanalysis in the United States as a clinical practice and a cultural force. Membership expansion is discussed in the historical and sociological context of psychoanalysis as a profession with a focus on organizational resistance to change. Professionalization established and legitimized psychoanalysis but also contained the seeds of gradual decline as monopoly over training and practice distanced APsA from the wider psychoanalytic community. Expanding membership beyond the profession is a step toward uniting the community and strengthening all applications of psychoanalysis, including the traditional form. These developments at APsA reflect changes in other disciplines that feature inclusion, generosity, situated learning, and distributed subjectivity in epistemic communities of practice.