Direct Members


Introduction

1. This document complements the Procedural Code entries entitled ‘Requirements for Qualification and Admission to IPA Membership’, ‘Equivalency Procedures’ and ‘Procedures for the Development of New Psychoanalytic Groups’.

2. It outlines the requirements through which applicants are assessed and recommended as IPA Direct Members.  Recommended applicants for IPA Direct Membership under these requirements are subject to approval by the Board.

3. Authority for appointing Direct Members is included in the IPA Rules, Rule 5, Section B as follows: “Direct Membership.  Under special circumstances or where no Constituent Organization exits, the Board in its discretion may approve as a Direct Member any psychoanalyst with adequate training and experience who meets all IPA Criteria for Direct Membership.”

Definition of ‘Special Circumstances’

4. The ‘special circumstances’ referred to in IPA Rule 5, Section B apply where there is one or more Constituent Organisations in the country from which a Direct Member application is received and shall be interpreted as follows:
a. Where the Constituent Organisations in the country concerned, for whatever reason, will not admit the applicant as a candidate or a member in the Constituent Organisations and/or have no objection to the applicant being recommended as a Direct Member of the IPA.
b. Where the Board in its discretion determines that it would be appropriate to recommend the applicant as an IPA Direct Member, particularly, but not exclusively, where the distances involved make it difficult for the applicant to join the Constituent Organisations.

Routes to IPA Direct Membership

5. Applicants for IPA Direct Membership achieve that membership in one of a number of different ways:
a. by undertaking training as IPA candidates within IPA Study Groups closely supervised by IPA Sponsoring Committees, and on graduation being recommended for IPA Direct Membership to the Board by the Sponsoring Committees.  Such training programmes are conducted to IPA requirements.
b. by undertaking training as IPA candidates within officially designated IPA regional training Institutes, such as the Han-Groen Prakken Psychoanalytic Institute for Eastern Europe or the Latin American Psychoanalytic Institute, or under the training supervised by the Turkish Supervisory Committee or the Korean Advisory Committee, and on graduation being recommended for IPA Direct Membership to the Board by the boards of these Institutes or the Turkish Supervisory Committee or the Korean Advisory Committee.  Such training programmes are conducted to IPA requirements.
c. by being assessed under the IPA’s Equivalency Procedures by Site Visit Committees or Sponsoring Committees delegated authority by the IPA Board to implement these procedures when groups apply under the International New Groups procedures for recognition within the IPA, and if successful being recommended for IPA Direct Membership through the International New Groups Committee to the Board by such Committees.
d. by being assessed under the IPA’s Equivalency Procedures by specially appointed Direct Member Assessment Committees delegated authority by the IPA Board to implement these procedures when individuals apply for IPA Direct Membership, and if successful being recommended for IPA Direct Membership through the International New Groups Committee to the Board by such Committees.

6. Under all the above circumstances, the Board may or may not approve applicants for IPA Direct Membership.

Direct Member Assessment Committees

7. Where an applicant applies for IPA Direct Membership who is not undertaking training as described in 5a. or 5b. above, or is subject to assessment by a Site Visit Committee or a Sponsoring Committee as described in 5c. above, the International New Groups Committee may recommend to the Executive Committee that a Direct Member Assessment Committee be appointed to consider the application under the Equivalency Procedures.  The Executive Committee may appoint Direct Member Assessment Committees for this purpose.

Cessation of Direct Membership

8. Direct Membership in the IPA is only temporary, covering normally a few years per Direct Member.  In accordance with IPA Rule 5, Section B ‘Direct Membership terminates when the Member becomes a Full or Associate Member of a Component or Provisional Society or the Regional Association of the IPA’.

 

Change Log

New document approved by the Board in principle in January 2007, with final approval in March 2007.
Changes to reflect the move of authority to approve Direct Membership from the Business Meeting to the Board, approved by Membership ballot May 2009

 

*This change record is for background information only and does not form part of the Procedural Code. If there is any conflict between a statement in the Procedural Code and a statement in this change record, the change record will be disregarded.