Individual mental health practitioners, academics, and researchers who are not affiliated with a psychoanalytic institute or society may belong as associate members.

[4] At the association's biannual meetings held in February and June, members convene to exchange ideas, present research, and discuss training and membership issues.

Other founders of the organization include Adolf Meyer, James Jackson Putnam, G. Lane Taneyhill, John T. MacCurdy, Trigant Burrow, and G. Alexander Young.

A. Brill suggested this limitation according to his belief that psychoanalysis could gain acceptance in America only if it were presented as a treatment for a medical disorder.

In consequence, many members of recognized health care professions, particularly clinical psychologists, were excluded not only from membership in the American Psychoanalytic Association but also from training in its approved institutes.