Officers:

• President: Leigh Tobias (PCC)           
• Secretary: Randi Wirth (IPTAR)
• Treasurer: Sandra Borden (IPTAR)
• Recording Secretary: Marilyn Rifkin (IPTAR)

Directors:

• David Falk, PhD (DMS) drdavidfalk@hotmail.com 
• Marilyn Rifkin, LCSW (IPTAR) mrifkin743@aol.com  
• Phyllis Sloate, PhD (IPTAR) plsloate@aol.com  
• Peggy Porter, PhD (LAISPS) pporterphd@earthlink.net  
• Beth Kalish, PhD (LAISPS) bkalishweiss@mindspring.com   
• Dana Blue, LICSW (NPS) bluedana@hotmail.com 
• Caron Harrang, LICSW (NPS) mail@caronharrang.com 
• Andrea Kahn, PhD (PCC)  drakahn@sbcglobal.net   

Directors represent the interests of their local society and institute on the CIPS Board of Directors and attend monthly teleconference meetings chaired by the President. Any candidate or member may attend a CIPS Board meeting (except when the board is in executive session) to learn more about the organization and how to become more involved. Contact your local society director(s) if you are interested.  

Leigh Tobias, CIPS President

I am aware that many of you will be attending the IPA Congress in Prague, "Facing the Pain," this August. As part of outreach, CIPS will host a welcome breakfast for all CIPS members, candidates, and invited guests, including the IPA Board, at the IPA Congress. The breakfast will be held August 2, 2013, from 7 to 8 AM, in the Chez Louis Salon, at the Hilton Prague in which the Congress is being held. Watch for an emailed invitation soon.

Additionally, I want to draw your attention to the IPA elections, which are open until May 31, 2013. Please take seriously your votes for North American Representatives to the IPA Board. If you have not yet cast your vote, please do so before the end of the month. The CIPS Board has been meeting with nominees during our board teleconferences over the last two months. CIPS as an organization does not endorse nominees. However, if you want additional information, talking to your local society CIPS representative is one way to gain a personal perspective if you do not know the candidates. Check the IPA website, www.ipa.org.uk for further information. Send your vote via email to: ipa2@electoralreform.co.uk. Please vote only for candidates you know and feel support your views; do not vote at random.

This will be my last letter to you as President of CIPS. Randi Wirth (IPTAR) will take over as President in July, along with Terrence McBride (LAISPS) as Vice President. Note that we have changed the name of the office from Secretary to Vice President (VP), as VP more accurately represents the office. Nonetheless, I will be representing CIPS at the IPA Congress, and at the breakfast, as CIPS immediate Past President.

It has been an honor to serve all of the CIPS societies as President, and I thank you for the opportunity. Since I took office, our Book Series, initiated by Past President Rick Perlman and Past Book Series Editor Meg Beaudoin, has produced five volumes, with the sixth due out soon (see Publication News below). Visit the Bookstore section of cipsusa.org to find out more about each volume and order books. Each volume is a valuable addition to your library!

Our tele-seminars continue to be a valuable experience for those who teach and for members that participate. I especially want to recognize and thank Phyllis Sloate (IPTAR) for organizing these offerings. We had two new seminars this year offered by Jeffrey Eaton (NPS) and Fred Busch (DMS). Previous seminars, focused on Bion, Sadomasochism, and Symbolization are ongoing and continue to provide meaningful learning for those involved. The professional enrichments represented by the Book Series, the seminars, and, of course, our Biennial Clinical Conference forms the core of clinical enrichment that CIPS offers. If you have not yet attended a CIPS Clinical Conference, you will have an opportunity to do so at our next conference scheduled for June 2014 in New York. Watch for details in the fall issue of the News Brief in October.

Our website and logo have also been refurbished. Our website is constantly being updated, and is a valuable reference for CIPS members. In addition to current news, our member roster, and the ability to purchase books or pay for conferences, the website is a resource for articles, interviews, and special event reviews written by our members. If you haven't visited lately, please do so at www.cipsusa.org. If you need a password, click the "forgot my password" link.

In the last few years, CIPS also made a change in how we interface with the North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (NAPsaC). The CIPS Board continues to stay current with NAPsaC issues by having each society represent itself on the NAPsaC Board. This has been an enhancement to CIPS functioning in the IPA political arena, as more of our members are informed and active at the international level. This year NAPsaC is focused on outreach and advocacy and has plans to update its website (www.napsac.info).

I want to close by thanking the CIPS Board who has served you and helped me during the two terms of my presidency:

Randi Wirth (IPTAR) has been invaluable as (what is now) Vice President. Sandra Borden (IPTAR) is an exemplary treasurer. Our coffers are sound, and our taxes are in good order! Marilyn Rifkin (IPTAR) has provided excellent minutes as recording secretary. Phyllis Sloate (IPTAR) has been a long-time member of CIPS, contributing invaluable historical continuity and understanding as well as organizing the seminars, conferences, and representing CIPS at IPA Education Committee conferences. I also want to thank Past President, Rick Perlman (IPTAR), for his support and continued efforts for CIPS by organizing our bylaws and procedures, his consultation, as well as his work on the IPA Board when he was one of seven Independent North American Representatives. I also thank Past President Harriet Basseches for her consultation, sharing CIPS historical background, and service on the IPA Board. Andrea Kahn (PCC), continues to be a director, assisted with the 2012 Clinical Conference, and has been an invaluable support to me.I also want to thank Don Freeman (PCC) for serving as a director on the Board during a portion of my terms.

Caron Harrang (NPS) has served as recording secretary, contributed as a chapter author to one of the CIPS Book Series publications, and serves as a director (NPS) and Managing Editor of the CIPS News Brief. She has developed the News Brief into its new look and expanded content. Caron is also responsible for growing the staff to include Assistant Managing Editor Lisa Halotek (LAISPS) and Reporter Jared Russell for IPTAR and DMS. She also invited the thoughtful presence of newer director Dana Blue (NPS) to the CIPS Board.

Peggy Porter (LAISPS) stepped into her position as director at the face-to-face CIPS Board meeting in Washington, DC four years ago, and has been active ever since. She contributed as a chapter author to one of the CIPS Book Series publications and served on the organizing committee for the 2012 Clinical Conference. Thankfully, Beth Kalish (LAISPS) has re-joined the Board as one with a long history of service to CIPS, NAPsaC, and several IPA committees. Her historical perspective and thoughtful contributions have been an informing influence for newer directors.

I also thank Paula Ellman (DMS), Ellen Klossen (DMS), and later Kris MacGaffin (DMS), for serving on the CIPS Board and representing the Direct Members Society (open to candidates or analyst members of any IPA-affiliated Society not belonging to CIPS). Most recently, David Falk (APsaA) has joined us, and has been helpful with his knowledge of the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPE) process. During the past four years we have also welcomed several new direct members from Mexico.

There are many more who have served CIPS as directors from your societies in the past. I encourage you to review the History section of cipsusa.org and see how much has been accomplished (www.cipsusa.org/about/history). In referring to this history, I want to express my appreciation for the good work that many have done before me.

I have had as my primary goal during my two terms as President that CIPS remain a viable organization whose value continues to be recognized. I have worked with the CIPS Board to continue to develop leadership within CIPS. I feel these goals are being realized, and my hat is off to all of you who give so much of yourselves in the name of our chosen profession, psychoanalysis. You are making a difference!

Leigh Tobias, CIPS President  

Randi Wirth, CIPS President-Elect

Interview with President-Elect Randi Wirth, PhD, FIPA

Managing Editor Caron Harrang conducted this interview via email in the spring of 2013. It is intended to give readers a sense of the professional background and vision of incoming CIPS President Randi Wirth whose term begins in July 2013.

Caron Harrang: Let me begin by congratulating you on being elected to the office of President of the CIPS Board of Directors beginning in July. I'm sure our readers are eager to hear your thoughts about the direction of CIPS under your leadership. Before we get to that, and for those who live outside of New York, I'd like to start by asking what drew you to psychoanalysis in the first place and where you trained to become a psychoanalyst?

Randi Wirth: Thank you, Caron. I'm honored to take the reins from Leigh Tobias and hope to continue to build on her legacy. I'm originally from Philadelphia and during my initial training in psychology I was exposed to Family Therapy and the work of Salvador Minuchin. While in graduate school, however, I began to question the efficacy of a singular therapeutic orientation. My research was in the field of eating disorders and the impact of the family dynamics on the "identified patient." Exciting and active as family therapy was, over time I came to understand that shorter-term treatment was not satisfying to me as a clinician. As I was exposed in more depth to the world of psychoanalysis, I found that the theory and approach resonated with my own experience.

In 1979 I received my Masters Degree and enrolled in the Philadelphia School of Psychoanalysis where I completed my first psychoanalytic training in 1984. During that time I worked at the Jewish Employment and Vocational Service (JEVS), where, in addition to career development, I had the incredible opportunity of treating trauma victims among the Vietnamese immigrant population known colloquially as the Boat People as they settled in Philadelphia.

I began my doctoral training in 1980 and took the position of Associate Director at Temple University's Career Development Center. In 1983, I also began seeing patients in private practice as a licensed psychologist. I continued to have a strong interest in the treatment of anorexia and bulimia and this led me to take a position as Chief Psychologist at the Renfrew Center, an inpatient facility treating eating disorders, when they opened in 1985.

Later, when I moved to New York City in 1987, I enjoyed becoming part of the rich psychoanalytic community here, first at the NYU Postdoctoral Program, and finally at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) where I completed my second training.

CH: It is always interesting to hear about the journey involved in becoming a psychoanalyst. Two rounds of training must give you quite a comprehensive base for understanding the theoretical diversity within psychoanalysis. Could you tell us how you came to become involved in CIPS and what your activities have been prior to being elected President?  

To read more click here...  

In Memory of Hedda Bolgar   

Special Reports    

On John Steiner's "Seeing and Being Seen"

at the PCC Annual Melanie Klein Lecture

By Jon Tabakin, PhD, FIPA

The impact of John Steiner's appearance at the March 2, 2013 PCC Klein Conference emerged through time along the lines of the architecture of a psychoanalytic session: content slowly deepening into contact-John Steiner's ideas slowly revealing his presence. His first presentation was entitled: Seeing and Being Seen: Emergence from a Psychic Retreat, based on his 2006 paper. His title is instructive, for the two references to seeing bracket the idea of being­-being as emerging. Persecutory and manic perversions of vision occlude contact with depressive position being. Recall Freud's revolutionary idea that the core of our being lives in unconscious desire, which the narcissistic ego resists.

For more information on NPS events visit  www.nps.us.com.