Editorial Introduction

In this first issue of 2025, we feature two groups of papers followed by several important individual papers. The first group of papers are by members of TRISP—the Training and Research Institute for Intersubjective Self Psychology—presenting their model of “Intersubjective Self Psychology” and its clinical implications. Peter Zimmermann provides an overview of the theory, and Harry Paul and Aviva Rohde detail how it works in two case studies. Next, we have a set of papers from our colleagues in Turkey. Mustafa Çevrim’s case study of “The Vulture in the Room” interweaves a case study showing the difficulty for both therapists and patients treating individuals in a land torn by the devastating earthquakes under contemporary Turkish autocratic governance. Çevrim’s paper is discussed in depth by Jackie Gotthold, Petra Perkarthofer, and Saziye Kazezoğlu. These papers are followed by Neslihan Ruganci’s “Daphne, Whose Tears Turned into a Waterfall in Anatolia”, which brings together myth and the contemporary Turkish government’s treatment of women in a stunning and complex case study of “Daphne,” emphasizing how using the forward/leading edge in therapy can sometimes heal even the most culturally traumatized.* These fine papers from Turkey expand our clinical sensitivities and possibilities, and deepen our understanding of a culture that has played such an important role in world history.

The issue continues with two thought-provoking papers. The first, by Allison Merrick, examines the hidden moralism that can distort therapeutic practice. The second, by Ramya Iyer, delves into racial introjection and social construction, focusing on the January 6, 2023, assault on the U.S. Capitol. This paper insightfully demonstrates how unconscious racial introjects can distort the experiences of both patients and therapists.

The issue concludes with Dani Knoll’s review of Michael Norton’s The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual.

*Please note that we have intentionally preserved some elem