LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ARNOLD RICHARDS
Dear Austin, congratulations on your new TAP. The content and the graphics are awesome. I am a proud grandfather. I started TAP in 1989. It succeeded the Bulletin, whose last editor was Estelle Shane. The name TAP The American Psychoanalyst was proposed by Helen Fisher. I was given the assignment by Homer Curtis, the then- president of the American. Shelly Orgel recommended me for the job. The first issue that I published commemorated the 50th anniversary of the death of Sigmund Freud. Subsequent issues presented the history and current status of almost all the institutes of the American as well as interesting interviews.
We published several interviews including interviews by Irene Cairo, Harriet Basseches, and other members. A major accomplishment of TAP was to help resolve the crisis about the certification requirement for membership. We published what we called the White Issue which included presentations, pro and con, about the certification requirement for membership after the issue came up as a bylaw, allowing all graduates to become members. It got a majority but not two thirds. A subsequent bylaw which allowed graduates to become members but not vote on bylaw amendments or run for office passed by one vote. This was a sea change of the American because before that happened, the American had lost 800 graduates who did not become members. These were the so-called lost sheep. Another bylaw amendment allowinged graduates to vote for bylaws and run for office passed by a large majority. The third bylaw amendment allowing all graduates to become training analysts was resolved by what was called institute choice. Institutes could decide whether or not to maintain the requirement. Some don’t but many still do, including all AAPE institutes. There are now new contentious issues and I’m sure you will be able in an even-handed way to contribute to their resolution.
Arnold Richards, MD
