Background

The IPA’s Inter-Regional Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychoanalysis (IRED) is an international and up-to-date tool for psychoanalysts, for psychotherapists who work psychoanalytically, and for scholars in the academic and cultural fields.

It is a joint venture on a peer basis among the regions, with equal attention paid to all the contributions and to all the schools that enable the IPA to offer such a complete, far-reaching representation of psychoanalysis worldwide.

The IPA has the human resources, the scientific depth and the cultural articulation to create an extraordinarily complete and advanced encyclopedic dictionary that is truly representative of all the theoretical trends and schools in the psychoanalytic world.

The IRED will provide an international and up-to-date tool for consultation and reference, of superior quality and ‘wide scope’, which represents both the ‘trunk’ and the ‘branches’ of the psychoanalytic tree, as it has grown from Freud to the present day.

Mandate

The IRED Committee will:

1. Ensure the full and equal representation of the history, and wide range of psychoanalytical theories, concepts and terms across psychoanalytic cultures;
2. Coordinate the three regional Working Groups, which are tasked with presenting the history up to the present time of the many specific contributions produced by the most important authors from their tradition and geographical area in relation to each concept / term featured in the IRED;
3. Compile the regional contributions (‘drafts’) into a comprehensive inter-regional overview (‘entry’), which clearly describes the convergences and differences in the conceptualizations of the various schools and areas;
4. Specify a methodological framework for the format, style and length of each entry, and for the selection and the number of total entries;
5. Publish the IRED electronically in a dedicated area on the IPA website.
6. Once an entry is published and ‘translation ready’, work collaboratively with the translation teams in order to ensure the unified presentation of all translated entries.

Ways of working and reporting

The IRED Committee will be expected to do most of its work electronically, using Zoom, or other free-to-use communication systems. The committee, like all IPA committees, will be expected to be self-supporting for secretarial and other purposes. It will have access to the web and email support services offered by the IPA. 

Any face-to-face meetings should take place, so far as possible, adjacent to IPA or regional congresses. The committee will provide a written report to the Board at least annually. 

Composition of the committee

This is a permanent IPA Committee whose members will be appointed in the usual way, by the President of the IPA and with the consent of the Board of Representatives. The Committee will consist of a Chair, plus one co-Chair from each Region. The Committee may request the appointment of Consultants as needed (Consultants will not be funded to attend in-person meetings).

Budget

The Committee will propose a budget during the annual IPA budget cycle.

Approved by the Board, August 2021