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Anthony Bass has stepped down from his position of Joint Editor-in-Chief of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. This will be the first time in the Journal’s history that Tony will not be involved formally in its leadership. Tony has been involved in PD from its inception in 1991, under the leadership of Stephen Mitchell. A member of a small founding editorial board, he originally served as a Book Review Editor along with Muriel Dimen, was appointed Associate Editor within a year, and then Executive Editor. In 2008, Tony was appointed Co-Editor-in-Chief along with Stephen Seligman and Steven Cooper. Two years later, Hazel Ipp, who had served as Executive Editor, joined the chief editorial team.
A first generation relational analyst, Tony was influential in shaping the vision, sensibility, and culture of the Journal. At the same time, he was essential in managing those everyday processes by which the Journal took shape, supporting authors, reviewers, and his fellow editors, and managing the complex matrix of systems on which it relied. In addition, Bass established himself as a vital contributor to the emerging Relational perspective, writing a series of articles on such themes as the therapeutic relationship, the relational conception of the therapeutic frame, enactment, mutuality, unconscious communication between therapist and patient, and the application of self-state theory.
As a founding editor, Tony spoke for the original Relational project, even as he facilitated the inclusion of the varied perspectives that were emerging in what he referred to as the “big relational tent.” He has been a strong leader who honored the emerging relational tradition while equally supporting innovation. Tony had a special creative interest in shepherding new forms of psychoanalytic writing. Among his initiatives were the “Credo” feature, inspired by Emmanuel Ghent’s classic article, in which senior contributors presented their personal views of the field and the work of analysis, and our feat