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This special section of articles is dedicated to elucidating the psychoanalytic legacy of Sidney Blatt . Known for his many contributions to psychoanalysis, personality/developmental/clinical psychology, and psychotherapy research, Blatt was a formidable bridge builder across disciplines and perspectives. His ability to integrate theory, empirical research, and clinical practice rendered his work a source of inspiration for scholars and clinicians who value a psychodynamic perspective.
Those of us close to Sid Blatt are keenly aware of his fierce commitment to psychoanalysis. He was committed not just to the intellectual edifice and the method of treatment, but also to the intellectual and professional movement that began with Freud in Vienna and spread throughout the world. We are also aware that such commitment did not always come easy to Sid. He was acutely cognizant of the movement's and the treatment's limitations and flaws, chief of which was, in his opinion, psychoanalysts' ambivalence toward empirical research. But Sid bore this tension with characteristic dignity and grace, and he used to posit that this tension reflects the human situation: all things are multilayered, and people and ideas are complex, sometimes seemingly contradictory. One must bear this, he thought, and do what one can to sort through (and respect) the complexity.
It was Sid's inspiring ability to tolerate, even “play with,” tension and complexity, juxtaposed with his prodigious intellectual abilities, that enabled him to make his decades-long, diverse contribution to psychoanalytic theory, research, and clinical practice. Fortunately, for many, he did so by sharing his gifts with students and colleagues. It was this very