Editor's Introduction

This issue is the first of two that focus on psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic training. The journal wants to feature examinations of training from multiple perspectives, including aspects of psychoanalysis we do not usually consider, experience of teachers and students, and research. In this issue we were able to gather contributions from all three areas.

A few comments about the cover illustration by the Chinese painter, Lyu Peng. A theme of many of his works is the complexity of the study and transmission of culture and art, symbolised by the red books he employs. Richard Wu, the cover editor, and I felt that this particular work captured the enigmatic complexity of the study and transmission of culture, and therefore of the culture of psychoanalysis. I hope this painting will lead readers to explore other versions of his creations.

First, we have a description of group relations training by Seth Harkins and Xiaohua Lu, offered only relatively recently in China. I consider this training to be an exceptionally important application of psychoanalytic theory for anyone who participates in institutions and groups—which is essentially all of us because we all live and work in groups. Group relations' history goes back to the 1950s in Great Britain where it was conceived at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology. It was then exported to the United States via the A. K. Rice Institute, throughout Europe, and now the world. The introduction of this application of psychoanalysis to groups and institutions adds another—and to my mind crucial—dimension of conception and understanding, including to the understanding of psychotherapy and psychoanalytic training institutions. Xiaochang Huang contributes an extremely interesting discussion by adding her own first-hand experience in the role of “cultural interpreter” in group relations conferences in China.

Early in my own career I went through many rounds of group relations training, both in the United States and Great Br