Women, Gender & Psychoanalysis

Section III’s President, Dr. Marilyn Metzl, in her dedication to increasing psychoanalytic knowledge internationally recently traveled to Mongolia with Division 39 Membership applications and 2009 Spring Meeting Brochures in arm.  A group of psychiatrists gave her a tour of their only psychiatric hospital, which operates under the Russian model of mental health care.  Dr. Metzl lectured on the evolution of psychoanalytic theory from Freud to Beebe and Lachmann, and on the evolution of diagnosis.  Dr. Metzl led a discussion on the mutual exchange of approaches to differential diagnosis and treatment formulations using the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual as a comparative model.

Impressed and eager to hear more, their continued mutual excitement turned a two-hour lecture into a seven-hour one with a five-hour case consultation the next day. The Mongolian psychiatrists requested assistance with the increasing substance abuse in their country.  They were most eager to learn analytically informed ways to keep families together in the wake of the upheaval caused by the economic crisis that is badly having such a negative influence on their newly won independence after the breakdown of communist regimes in the late 90s.

Marilyn exuberantly reported that her colleagues were “so absolutely blown away” that three of them them sought her out at her hotel to inform her that although they had no idea how they might achieve their goal they “must get to the convention.”

The driving combination of their country’s growing mental health care crisis and deepening sense of professional obligation to respond resulted in them successfully raising funds and securing visas to travel the almost 7,000  miles to San Antonio, Texas in hopes of learning about psychoanalytically-based treatment models.

On Friday, April 24, 2009, Drs. Tuvshoo and Erka were provided with a warm welcome and informative tour of San Antonio Hospital to include a look at their robotic pharmacy!

A very special thank-you to the following professionals for extending their time and expertise to our Mongolian colleagues: 

Bob Arizpe – Superintendent

Patti Rangel, Director – Community Relations – Public Information Officer

Lily Engles, M.D – Psychiatrist – Arnold Hall (Acute Care Adult Psychiatric Services)

Letty Rodriguez – Central Activities Coordinator

Steve Saklad, Pharm. D – Clinical Pharmacist

Larry Grosskopf, Ph.D. – Clinical Psychologist (Arnold Hall – Acute Adult Psychiatric Services)

John Jeffers, LCSW – Director, Social Services and Specialty Unit Cluster