American Psychoanalytic Association


The American Psychoanalytic Association is an association of psychoanalysts in the United States. APsaA serves as a scientific and professional organization with a focus on education, research, and membership development.

History

The American Psychoanalytic Association was founded in 1911 by Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, with the support of Sigmund Freud. Other founders of the organization are Adolf Meyer, James Jackson Putnam, G. Lane Taneyhill, John T. MacCurdy, Trigant Burrow, and G. Alexander Young.
The APsaA is the second oldest American psychoanalytic organization, after the New York Psychoanalytic Society which was founded a few months before by Abraham Arden Brill.
In 1991 the APsaA issued a statement allowing training of gay psychoanalysts. In 1992 the APsaA prohibited discrimination against gay people when selecting teaching faculty. In 2019 the APsaA apologized for having treated homosexuality as a mental illness.

Membership

APsaA has over 3,000 members, including 33 accredited training institutes and 38 affiliate societies. At the association's biannual meetings held in February and June, members convene to exchange ideas, present research, and discuss training and membership issues.