Introduction: The Enduring Impact of Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory

This issue of contemporary psychoanalysis is a celebration of Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory . In the 30 years since Jay Greenberg and Stephen Mitchell published their now classic examination of comparative psychoanalytic theories, we can fully appreciate just how seminal and groundbreaking this volume was to be.

The idea for a special issue grew out of a panel held at the William Alanson White Institute in September 2010, which was organized by Pasquale Pantone, Director of Clinical Education, to pay tribute to the book. What follows is Dr. Pantone's description of the birth of that meeting and the subsequent remarks of the panelists. Together, these papers offer a unique perspective on an essential aspect of the Interpersonal/Relational turn in psychoanalysis and the guiding role that psychoanalysts at the White Institute have played in that development.

We have also invited a range of psychoanalytic writers to share their view of the book's impact on, and place in, the history of analytic ideas. Each author, of course, writes from a unique vantage point influenced by his or her theoretical position. We begin with Dr. Jack Drescher's 1993-1994 interviews of Jay Greenberg and Steve Mitchell. These memorable accounts, first published in The White Society Voice, capture the authors' intellectual vigor and exuberant idealism as they assumed key editorial roles in the years after the successful launching of their book. We follow with Robert Michels's paper, an eloquent defense of the drive model against theoretical pluralism. He praises Greenberg and Mitchell's attempt to establish a comparative psychoanalysis, yet takes issue with their methodology and argues theoretical merit should be tested by clinical results rather than philosophical premise or historical context. Otto Kernberg acknowledges the book's scholarly and judicious treatment of Edith Jacobson's pioneering work on affects as well as his own Object