Editors’ Introduction

In our 2023 introduction to Volume 76 of The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, when we assumed the co-editors-in-chief role, we laid out our vision for what the future of this iconic annual might include. Over the past year, as Volume 78 began to take shape, we were pleased to see that the content and authorship of the papers mirrored many of our initial aspirations. Here are some of the ways our early “hopes and challenges” are represented in the contributions appearing in the pages that follow.

First and foremost we listed the inclusion of clinical papers as a priority for us and our readership. In Volume 77, we alerted authors and readers to a new publishing standard for preserving confidentiality in case material. The problems with seeking, obtaining, and relying on consent from patients and/or their families are now more fully recognized. Instead, strong anonymization has become the fundamental principle guiding authors, reviewers, and editors in their efforts to protect patient privacy and maintain the PSC as a preeminent clinical publication.

The present volume contains a rich assortment of papers that vividly portray psychoanalytic work, while adhering to new guidelines. The lead section, Child Analysts at Work includes five analytic cases – in three of these the authors reconsider their earlier work in light of subsequent experience, insights, and understanding regarding technique, development, or theory (see Steven Ablon’s “Profound Silence” and the discussion by Lawrence Levenson; “First Class or Nothing at All: Revisiting ‘Feminine Development’ Through the Lens of Contemporary Gender Theory” by Kirsten Dahl; and Alan Sugarman’s “Elements of Therapeutic Action in Child Psychoanalysis: Some Problems with Trying to Provide a Corrective Emotional Experience.”) Thomas Barrett’s paper “Loss and Mourning in Early Childhood: The Role of Emotional Attunement in the Treatment of Complex Trauma” continues a theme most recently treated in a section of papers in Volum