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In the first editorial of this journal, the Editor-in Chief wrote:
The psychoanalytic method, the organized meeting of analyst and analysand several times a week over a long period of time and for a peculiar kind of dialogue – the interface of free association and evenly hovering attention – has remained unchanged since the inception of psychoanalysis. This kernel of the psychoanalytic method is unique in modern society in many ways. One aspect is that of psychoanalysis as a tradition of oral language. Most psychoanalytic sessions are marked by a predominance of spoken language. Also the training of psychoanalysts relies heavily on oral verbal traditions through the candidates’ own analyses, their psychoanalytic work and supervision. (Stensson, 1992)
Donald Meltzer conceives analytic work in a similar way:
The doing of analytical work and the talking about it are very different functions of psychoanalysis. The analyst must be “lost” in the analytical process as the musician at his instrument relying on the virtuosity of his mind in depths. From this absorption he must “surface”, between patients in repose, conversation and in writing. There can be little doubt that these two areas of function must interact if the individual analyst, and psychoanalysis as a whole is to develop. (Meltzer, 1967)
This is why the interaction with a psychoanalytic journal is of utmost interest for the writing analyst, something that Jan Stensson (1992) underlines in his first editorial. These words from the Founding Editor shaped the values of the International Forum of Psychoanalysis, values that we still identify with today:
To my mind the writing and publishing of psychoanalytic texts have a meaning and raison d’être also beside the strictly scientific one. The writing and publication of psychoanalytic papers is part of the “working through” of psychoanalytic experiences and keeps psychoanalysis alive and vital. In this function it is not necessarily the most clear, scholarly and erudite pa