I want to express my gratitude to those of you who replied to the survey last month. According to it, the average responder is a member of NCSPP, is a psychologist, is not an analyst nor in analytic training, is undecided about analytic training, is familiar with psychoanalytic theory, and is of advanced or intermediate experience. This person is in private practice, sees mainly adults in individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy, sees mainly neurotic-level patients, and is influenced theoretically by relational and British Middle School orientations.

There was of course tremendous variability in the responses, reflecting the diversity of this community. (It is probably not bad advice that one should be suspicious of surveys, polls and averages.) The differences are harder to characterize, but among them are: a third of you do not belong to NCSPP, a fifth of you are students, there were many MFTs, a quarter of you were analysts or candidates, a quarter of you also worked in community mental health centers or clinics, many of you also teach, consult or supervise, and almost half of you also see adolescents.

The NCSPP Board will be using this information to think more carefully about who makes up our diverse community and how and what we can provide to best serve that community in keeping with our mission - part of which is "the encouragement of interest in psychoanalytic psychology in the professional and general communities" and "the development at the local level of support for individual members in the maintenance of a coherent identity as mental health professionals interested in psychoanalytic theory and practice," as our by-laws dryly put it. To do this we need to hear more from you as individuals, not as statistics.

I would like to encourage you to get in touch with me at any time, by sending me a message through the IMPULSE website. Over this year, we will also continue to work on ways to increase and facilitate our contact with you.

Adam Kremen, Ph.D.
President, NCSPP