The American Psychoanalytic Association and Community Psychiatry
BERNARD BANDLER M.D.1
1 Professor and chairman, division of psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, and psychiatrist-in-chief, University Hospital, Boston University Medical Center, 80 East Concord Street, Boston, Mass. 02118
Although many psychoanalysts have individually become involved in and contributed to community psychiatry programs, the American Psychoanalytic Association itself has remained aloof. This official detachment has serious implications, the author believes, for the growth of both community psychiatry and psychoanalysis. He calls for a return to the broader original goals of the association—the integration of psychoanalysis with other branches of medicine and the advancement of the general welfare through research—which clearly relate to the issues raised by community psychiatry.
