The current issue you are holding is the first one I edited in my new role as the Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Controversial Discussions. I am humbled by and enjoying the honor of following Arnold Richards as the new Editor-in-Chief. Arnie, a mentor and friend has been quite difficult to emulate and also a source of aspiration and inspiration for me for many years.
The defining aspect of the workings of the journal and its mission is well summarized by Arnie Richards in our webpage:
“The IJCD model of peer review is that papers that are well written and well-reasoned are published and responded to publicly by a discussant with similar interests. The author is then given the opportunity to respond. The IJCD does not have any theoretical or ideological bias and will cast a wide net including contributors from many disciplines and many geographical locations. It will consider a broad array of subjects of interest to mental health professionals. The journal is a work in progress, and we welcome input from the larger mental health community.”
We are living in an era of dramatic change, where dialogue in developing new ideas and reviewing old ideas is becoming more obviously important to our common intellectual consciousness. In contrast to our earlier formulations of ideas developing in individual isolation, we now understand that humans do indeed develop ideas as a part of ongoing, ever expanding and deepening conversation within groups, with others. One may say the IJCD will follow the lead of this newly understood aspect of the creativity of human mind, the Hegelian “Seele”.
In sum, the philosophy of the journal is well coded in its name—International Journal of Controversial Discussions. We hope to develop a forum where creative controversy leads to finding new ideas. And we will try our best to avoid endless ruminative antagonisms.
This issue will focus on the recent book of Jane S. Hall, “The Power of Connection” published by International Psychoanalytic Books (IPBooks) New York 2022 (ipbooks.net)
Jane Hall with her writing fits this philosophy wonderfully. In a plain language, she tells the stories of an alive person, herself, in the act of therapeutic love and thinking about others, with others. Her evocativeness allows one to have a lively dialogue with a text that is quite open about the workings of her mind, her weaknesses, strengths and endless curiosity about fellow humans. In this issue, we will read the responses to her stories, thoughts and work by various psychoanalytic clinicians and scholars. I hope you will enjoy the dialogues in the following narratives as much as I did.
With respectful and warm regards to our readers.
M. Sagman Kayatekin