The American Psychiatric Association is the national body representing psychiatrists, i.e. medical doctors trained to treat mental illness.[1] Its stated aims are to ensure the highest standards of clinical conduct, ethics and professional care, and represents its members on the political stage.
The APA was formed in 1844 and soon spread across the country. At present it has 35,000 members in 75 charters lead by a president and a board of trustees. Among previous presidents was Pedro Ruiz. Based on the conclusion of the APA Annual Meeting in New York on 9 May 2018, Altha Stewart became the First African-American to Lead the Organization and the fourth consecutive woman chosen to lead the association.[2]
Main article: Zapping the Shrinks
1979 president of the American Psychological Association Nicholas Cummings claimed that the homosexual "rights" movement "sort of captured the APA". The same development has occurred in the American Psychiatric Association and this capture can be regarded as the fulfillment of long-term strategy of so-called gay liberation movement whose representative, activist Frank Kameny, as early as in 1960's declared that their presence at APA conferences "was only the beginning of an increasingly intensive campaign by homosexuals to change the approach of psychiatry toward homosexuality or, failing that, to discredit psychiatry." This process can be considered as completed by appointing Saul Levin, "the first openly gay person to lead a major medical specialty society", as the CEO of American Psychiatric Association in October 2013.[3] LGBT+ pressure group now considers Levin to be a "LGBT" icon.[4]