Editorial

During the recent annual conference of the Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry in San Diego, there was a lively meeting of the Editorial Board of Psychodynamic Psychiatry. A few themes emerged.

The Journal is the only English-language publication devoted to psychodynamic psychiatry. People expressed pride that our publication has been successful in its major aims of providing a forum for discussion of the interaction between science and psychoanalytic psychology and for the usefulness of the developmental bio-psycho-social model in understanding health and illness. There is clearly a need for psychiatrists to have a framework that goes beyond a descriptive medical model in assessing and treating patients.

Although recent emphasis by the NIMH on neuro-psycho-biology has been energetic, it has not provided answers to the most important questions about the etiology of mental illness nor has it led to any advances in clinical treatment. This should come as no surprise. Not only are the interactions leading to diverse psychopathologies extremely complex, they often involve socio-biological behavioral relationships occurring during different phases of development beginning with conception. The concept of critical periods of sensitivity makes model building even more complex.

At present the behavioral scientists who are hard at work to extend frontiers of knowledge, and clinicians who struggle to assist their patients applying therapeutic knowledge as best as possible don't communicate with each other as well as they might. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, the journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, attempts to provide a venue where both scientific and clinical perspectives can be considered in relation to psychodynamic and psychoanalytic concepts.

The recent discussion of the Editorial Board revealed a need for new sections of the Journal that focus more directly on clinical aspects of