Association for the AA Advancement of Philosophy and P P Psychiatry Bulletin Volume18, Number 1 2011 From the Editor Tribute to Alfred Freedman This issue of the Bulletin is a pot- Al Freedman, a Founding Member of AAPP’s Executive Council and our pourri of offerings. First, there is Mi- First Life Fellow, died of complications from surgery for repair of a broken hip in chael Schwartz’s tribute to Al Freed- New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital on April 17, 2011. He was 94 years old. man on the occasion of Al’s recent Al, a psychiatrist of international renown, joined AAPP shortly after our asso- death. We had named Al as the first ciation was conceived following a successful panel presentation at the 1989 Life Fellow of AAPP a couple years American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco. Subsequent ago on the occasion of his declining to this meeting, Ned Wallace invited a small group of us 1 to Augusta, Georgia to health and inability to remain active in strategize about the development of a philosophy and psychiatry organization. the organization (the declining health A follow-up meeting – the launch meeting of AAPP – was scheduled at my did not prevent him from writing letters home in Westport, Connecticut. But how could we draw in a wider group? How to the NY Times to argue for his could we develop a viable structure? Launch a journal? Go international? Draw in strongly felt causes). the luminaries of the field? Who better to ask than Al Freedman – my Departmen- To accompany the tribute Michael tal Chairman at the time, a psychiatrist deeply interested in the big issues in psy- provided us with a photograph from the chiatry, and a man of exceptional experience and accomplishment. Al and I met AAPP Executive Council meeting held for lunch at the faculty club at Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. As we at his house in Westport, CT in 1990. dined, he provided guidance, direction and strategic advice and accepted a place in This meeting was my first contact with AAPP’s future Executive Council. A Past President of the American Psychiatric the developing AAPP group, as well as Association (APA), Al straightaway connected me with APA’s then Medical Di- our first meeting with Bill Fulford, who rector, Mel Sabshin, and before the day was done AAPP was on its way to its cur- was in the process of forming the Royal Society philosophy of psychiatry inter- (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 26) AAPP Executive Committee Meeting, 1990, at Michael Schwartz’s house in Westport, CT (from left: Jim Phillips, Al Freedman, Manfred Spitzer, Paul McHugh, Michael Schwartz, Jerry Kroll, George Agich, Phil Slavney, Ozzie Wiggins, John Sadler, Bill Fulford) Volume 18, Number 1 2011 (Continued from page 1, Tribute) the broad and effective National AAPP rent status as an APA “Allied Profes- Council on the Confidentiality of sional Society.” We had “cache” – we Medical Records and the consequent Annual Meeting were strategically invited to have our reform and improvement of medical 2012 AAPP Annual meeting at the time and privacy laws. site of APA’s - and we have so met for Al was a lifelong human rights The Biopsychosocial more than the past 20 years. activist, ceaselessly and effectively and Other Models for Al can be seen a short time later, at campaigning for the rights of all but Psychiatry: Philoso- the left end in the first row, in a photo especially of those whose human taken on my patio in Westport, Con- rights have been violated. Concerned phical Perspectives necticut during AAPP’s first Executive about the care and education of un- May 5 & 6, 2012 Council meeting in 1990. derserved children, he participated in Philadelphia, PA Dr. Alfred M. Freedman, AAPP’s the development of Project Head (in conjunction with the American first Life Fellow, graduated from Cor- Start. During his term as Chair of Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. Conference Co-Chairs: nell and the University of Minnesota New York MedicaL College, then Christian Perring, Ph.D., Dowling School of Medicine and began his based in East Harlem, he established College, and James Phillips, M.D., Residency in Psychiatry at Belleview in a narcotics treatment program as well Yale University) 1948. His impact on Psychiatry, and as psychiatric wards at the Metropoli- indeed on American culture, would be tan Hospital. His advocacy for human In 1980 George Engel formulated large. He served as Chair of the De- rights during his tenure as APA Presi- the biopsychosocial model to account partment of Psychiatry at New York dent is described above. Subse- for the missing dimensions of the pre- Medical College, co-created the Com- quently, exposing systematic abusive vailing biomedical model. Presented as prehensive Textbook of Psychiatry , and psychiatric practices in the Soviet a model for both medicine and psy- chiatry, the BPS has had an uneven created and led the journal Integrative Union, he led an international delega- course over the ensuing decades, de- Psychiatry. The International Society of tion to a Soviet meeting of the World fended as the best model for a multi- Political Psychology has an annual Psychiatric Association which re- factorial approach to psychopathology, Alfred M. Freedman Award honoring sulted in a withdrawal of the Soviets criticized for being general and obvi- his contributions to that group. Al was from WPA from 1983 until improve- ous to the point of saying nothing. a Past-President of the American Psy- ments were documented in 1989. In The AAPP Annual Meeting will chopathological Association (1971-2) recent years, Al Freedman continued address the status and viability of the and of the American Psychiatric Asso- effective campaigning against psychi- BPS model, as well as questions re- ciation (1972-3). atric abuse in the interrogation of garding competing and potentially more theoretically sound alternative Al’s term of leadership in the prisoners and against any role for models American Psychiatric Association mer- psychiatrists in executions. In 2008, Possible relevant topics for consid- its further description. Prior to Dr. 60 years after beginning as a Psychia- eration at the meeting include: What is Freedman, APA Presidents ran unop- trist, Al Freedman was named as the a “model” of psychiatry, and what are posed in an organization that could recipient of the Human Rights Award the necessary properties of an adequate well be described as an “old boys net- of the American Psychiatric Associa- model? What are the metaphysical work.” In this setting, Al was the first tion. assumptions of biopsychosocial, bio- to petition his way on to the ballot and What a privilege for all of us in medical, or other models? The DSM into office. And, as President during a Association for the Advancement of claims to be atheoretical: is there an implicit model—biopsychosocial, time of social upheaval, he played a Philosophy and Psychiatry to have biomedical, other—in the DSM? Does critical role in APA’s removal of ho- been mentored and guided by Alfred a model of psychiatry illuminate de- mosexuality from the list of psychiatric Freedman. bates between holism and reduction- disorders and in APA’s declaration that ism? Does the debate between differ- homosexuality was no longer to be Endnote ent models involve the mind/body stigmatized by psychiatrists as a mental problem. illness. This action has been properly 1. John Sadler, Michael Schwartz, The AAPP invites authors to submit regarded as one of the 100 most impor- Manfred Spitzer, Osborne Wiggins abstracts of proposed papers dealing th with these or related subjects. Ab- tant US achievements in the 20 cen- stracts should be 500-600 words in tury. Al’s Presidency of APA was also length and should be sent via e-mail the time of Viet Nam, and the stealing Michael Schwartz, M.D. before November 15, 2007 to the of medical records from of the office of program chairs, Christian Perring, Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist by the *** PhD, ([email protected]) and Watergate burglars occurred during James Phillips, MD (james.phillips Al’s tenure. @yale.edu) Notices of acceptance or Subsequently, Al’s passionate and rejection will be distributed in early powerful commitment to medical pri- January. vacy led to his constituting and leading 2 Volume 18, Number 1 2011 The Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry Executive Council George J. Agich, Ph.D. Alfred M. Freedman, M.D. Jerome L. Kroll, M.D. MINUTES Paul R. McHugh, M.D. John Z. Sadler, M.D. FALL 1990 MEETING Miclael Alan Schwartz, M.D. Phillip R. Slavney, M.D. OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE ASSOCIATION Manfred Spitzer, M.D., Ph.D. FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHIATRY Edwin R. Wallace, IV, M.D. (Formerly Group for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry) Osborne P. Wiggins, Ph.D. Present: Schwartz, Freedman, Spitzer, Wiggins, Slavney, Sadler, Agich, McHugh, Knoll Guests: K.W.M. Fulford, Tony O’Connell, Jim Phillips Friday, November 2, 1990 1. Dr. Schwartz called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.. Dr. Schwartz lamented Dr. Wallace’s absence. 2. The agenda for the meeting was discussed. 3. Dr. Slavney introduced the concern of the size of the group, and the scope of the endeavor. Dr. Schwartz introduced the idea of fellowship/membership and with an overarching Executive Council (as noted in his draft of the Constitution). Wig- gins feels that quality must be preserved as the overarching guide organizationally. Dr. Agich thinks the quality may not necessarily be protected by organizational structure per se. Dr. Fulford felt the “sleepy” members actually help make an impact on the field, or turn out to assume quality leadership roles.