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As APA's 1998 annual meeting comes to a close, the Association's new officers assume their positions. I am your new member-in-training trustee, succeeding the extremely able and energetic Alisa Busch, M.D., who has been a real asset to MIT's and to APA.
I am a little different from some members-in-training. My first career was in obstetrics and gynecology-working first in private practice, then as a medical educator on the faculty at Duke University Medical Center. I have been active in the American Medical Women's Association for many years and served as AMWA president in 1994-95. I am just completing my psychiatry residency at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and will begin a Women's Health Fellowship with Donna Stewart, M.D., at the University of Toronto in July.
In this column, Sunil Chhibber, M.D., introduces members-in-training to an organization--the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry--that has been influential in the field of psychiatry for many decades and describes his experiences as a Ginsburg fellow. Dr. Chhibber is a second-year fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City.
If you would like to contribute an article to the Residents' Forum or wish to contact me about any issue, please e-mail me at womandoc@aol.com. You can also contact Cathy Brown of the Psychiatric News staff at (202) 682-6137, and she will send me your communications. I look forward to working with you in the coming year.
-Diana L. Dell, M.D.
Member-in-Training Trustee
By Sunil Chhibber, M.D.
Recently I attended the 104th meeting of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) in White Plains, N.Y., as a Ginsburg fellow. It was one of the most gratifying experiences I've had since beginning my residency training at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
GAP was founded in 1946 under the leadership of Dr. William C. Menninger. The organization has been widely recognized for its innovative work in the field of mental health and has added extensively to the knowledge base of psychiatry. Moreover, GAP often has been among the first to raise a voice in protest about social issues of concern to psychiatry.
GAP was mobilized after more than 2.5 million U.S. soldiers were rejected or discharged from military service in the latter part of World War II because of mental health problems. This unexpected rejection provoked an outcry for more public mental health programs. Dr. Menninger, then a brigadier general and chief of neuropsychiatry in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, initiated a discussion group among psychiatrists to address future mental health problems and the role of American psychiatry in the postwar era. At first, GAP perceived the need for an "action" organization that would complement APA.
Dr. Menninger was unanimously elected as its first chair, and Dr. Henry W. Brosin was elected secretary. The stated goals of GAP were to advance the art and practice of psychiatry while also educating the public in matters pertaining to mental health. GAP originally created nine committees, each having an assigned responsibility for a particular area in which its members had special interest or expertise.
Just as it has in the past four decades, GAP addresses emerging issues of professional and social concern. Through study and discussion, GAP attempts to resolve controversial and divisive issues while enhancing the teaching and practice of psychiatry. Membership is offered to psychiatrists who have demonstrated a superior capacity to generate innovative ideas, work effectively in groups, and be productive at a high level.
GAP has approximately 300 members. Two hundred of these are active, about 75 are inactive, and 24 are Ginsburg fellows. GAP is currently organized into 24 committees. Typically, each committee chooses a single topic for study at a time. Once that choice is made, the committee may then invite participation, collect and evaluate pertinent data, and prepare a draft commentary, which is rigorously scrutinized and critiqued before it becomes an official publication.
The philosophy of the organization, expressed by Dr. Menninger in The Story of GAP (1959) by Albert Deutsch, is: "We believe that when we are faced with a problem, if we can sit down together and take time to exchange views, we can determine what we knew and did not know about the matter and could plot the course of the search for the knowledge that we lacked."
In 1955 the Steering Committee, led by Dr. Sol W. Ginsburg, proposed a special program to allow young psychiatrists to work with various GAP committees over a two-year period. Dr. Ginsburg's idea was to expose young psychiatrists to GAP early in their careers in the hope that the values and standards of the organization would pass unbroken from one generation of psychiatrists to another. Following the death of Dr. Ginsburg in 1960, the fellowship program was named in his honor in recognition of his interest in and dedication to younger generations of psychiatrists.
Each Ginsburg fellow is assigned to a GAP member within a committee who ensures that the fellow gets experience that will support his or her growth as a psychiatrist.
Ginsburg fellows are required to attend four meetings held in April and October of each year at White Plains, N.Y. The fellows make a presentation at the last of the four meetings they attend on a topic of their choice.
Ginsburg fellows are selected by their training programs for nomination after submitting a personal statement and curriculum vitae. The Ginsburg Fellowship Committee reviews the applications and selects the fellows. Of the 70 to 80 who apply, about 24 are selected. The current chair of the committee is Leah J. Dickstein, M.D., and the committee members are Silvio J. Onesti, M.D., Steven S. Sharfstein, M.D., Perry Ottenburg, M.D., Kathleen McKenna, M.D., and Harvey Ruben, M.D.
During my first GAP meeting in April 1997, I was overwhelmed by members' warm welcome and genuine encouragement. It was a wonderful and highly stimulating opportunity to meet and exchange thoughts with so many leaders in psychiatry, united by the common goal of advancing the knowledge of psychiatry for the public benefit.
I was assigned to the GAP Committee on Planning and Communication, which is working on "Patient Care and the Future of Psychiatry in the Age of Managed Care." The committee is investigating how high levels of quality psychiatric services can be provided in a cost-effective manner under managed care. The committee's goal is to help ensure that the practice of psychiatry in the 21st century will continue to rest upon the principles and practices that guided the discipline during its early formative days in the United States.