PSYCHOANALYTIC QUARTERLY, THE

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly was founded in 1934 by four analysts: Bertram Lewin, Gregory Zilboorg, Dorian Feigenbaum, and Frankwood Williams. Their editorial policy, enunciated explicitly in the first issue, was directed at a specific task. Psychoanalysis was becoming quite popular in North America, and while the enthusiasm was welcome, it also gave rise to a certain amount of confusion. The founders of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly wanted to establish a forum for the discussion of psychoanalytic ideas that have clinical relevance.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly has always addressed the interests and concerns of the analytic practitioner. Theoretical and applied analytic studies are welcome, but only if they generate hypotheses a clinical analyst can bring back to the treatment situation and test against observations made there. An empirical, pragmatic orientation informs the journal's editorial policy.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly also directs itself against the inevitable parochialism of local analytic subcultures by exposing its readers to work done from an array of theoretical perspectives. For example, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly was the first journal in the United States to publish an article by Jacques Lacan. Special issues have taken up such topics as "Knowledge and Authority in the Psychoanalytic Relationship" and "The Psychoanalytic Process," featuring papers by a variety of analysts from widely differing schools of thought.

In addition to original scientific contributions, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly includes a comprehensive Book Review Section. It also has an Abstracts Section, in which summaries of selected articles from other journals—virtually the entire non-English language psychoanalytic literature, as well as the neural sciences, philosophy, sociology, infant observation, political science, and so on,—are presented.

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly is a free-standing, self-published journal. It contains no advertising, and is supported by subscription fees. It is not accountable to any psychoanalytic organization. Therefore, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly has been able to maintain a tradition of complete editorial independence alongside intellectual rigor and fine scholarship.

Owen Renik

See also: Fenichel, Otto; Revue française de psychanalyse ; United States.