A Statement on Xenophobia and Islamophobia


Dear Colleagues: 
On December 23, 2015, The Board of Directors of my institute, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR) in New York City issued the following Position Statement on Xenophobia and Islamphobia.   This followed a somewhat similar Position Statement on Syrian Refugee Resettlement issued by the American Psychoanalytic Association on December 2, 2015. Our statement is framed clinically. Our Board thought it was important in these perilous times that psychoanalysts in the United States be at the forefront of opposing circumstances that lead to xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism, and prejudice. Psychoanalysts in other parts of the world, given the media stories that come from the United States, may not be familiar with the extent to which psychoanalysts in this country are expressing their views.