His Published Work

Alexander Reid Martin was one of the founders of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and the American Institute for Psychoanalysis. He was one of that small group surrounding Karen Horney which made up in creativity and productivity what it lacked in numbers. His more than fifty papers and articles covered such subjects as the dynamics of insight, studies of effort and relaxation, psychosomatics, aging, the psychology of leisure and “Sunday neurosis,” nostalgia, and reassurance in therapy. In 1978 Dr. Martin had the honor and distinction of being the only person from within the Horney group to give the annual Karen Horney lecture. He chose as his topic: “Adapting Psychoanalytic Procedure to the Uniqueness of the Individual.”

Despite the apparent diversity of his subject matter, there are certain common denominators which unified much of his published work. Certainly the subject he chose for his Karen Horney address exemplifies many of these common themes as does the paper reprinted in this issue of the Journal. A list of these themes would have to include: his respect, even reverence, for the uniqueness of the individual; his faith in the individual's inner constructive forces; his reliance on clinical data, particularly in terms of using the patient's own language and experiences in his clinical research; his emphasis on drawing and clarifying distinctions between traits or capacities used in the service of health versus pathology; his view of the healthy self as striving toward awareness of integration.

I once mentioned to Dr. Martin that I thought that one of his main contributions to our field lay in the area of the philosophy of technique. He looked at me askance and, I think with slight suspicion said, “You don't mean procedure, do you?” When I explained that I didn't mean procedure but those principles underlying procedure, he agreed with what sounded like some relief, voicing strong disapproval for much that is written on “procedure” or techn