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It is a privilege and honour to be editing this edition of the journal.
In March 2007, Bowlby Centre members would have received the first ever edition of Attachment: New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis. Some will remember the striking black and white image of the laundry drying. I hope you have enjoyed reading the journal over the years, and still have articles to contribute. I want new readers to be inspired and engaged by what they read here. I will, as the newly appointed editor, continue this journal's proud legacy of dissemination of high quality, diverse writing and research about attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
The original editorial team, comprising of Joe Schwartz, Kate White, Caroline Parker, Donatella Landi, Emerald Davis, Nigel McBride, and Rachel Wingfield, created the journal to meet the UKCP requirements that Bowlby Centre trainees had exposure to up-to-date writing which reflected clinical practice. It also had to meet the needs of The Bowlby Centre in that the journal content fully reflected the values of our organisation and training. As the journal turns eighteen, we are taking the opportunity to pause and reflect on the journal's rich history, and celebrate this with the republishing of some of the classic articles.
There is also the opportunity to consider the relevance of attachment theory in 2025, at a time when it has become popularised. We have been saturated by countless videos on social media about “discovering your attachment style to find your perfect partner”, even your pet might have attachment issues! However, being aware of attachment styles is not the same as an understanding of the deeper implications and applications of attachment theory. In fact the very terminology needs challenging as Mary Main's original and groundbreaking research in developing
the Adult Attachment Interview used the terms “states of mind in relation to our early attachment history”, not “styles”. It is an important c