Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry

History of GAP

GAP was part of a larger move toward professionalization of the field. GAP was founded in May 1946 by a group of young psychiatrists who had served in World War II. They returned to the U.S. to find an inadequate system of civilian care and were impatient with the traditionalism of the American Psychiatric Association (which had originally been founded as an association of asylum superintendent). GAP was formed under the leadership of Dr. William C. Menninger and the "young turks" in American psychiatry who were eager to professionalize the field. Menninger wrote:

The organization of GAP was not a revolution. With the deepest sincerity, the founding group was seeking a way in which American psychiatry could give more forceful leadership, both medically and socially. Although the name may sound presumptuous, it was chosen because of the sense of great urgency that psychiatry should advance, and the belief that by hard work, and teamwork, we could help it do so. Those early years of GAP were marked by the feeling on the part of its membership that much needed to be done, and quickly.