Introduction

Judith Marks Mishne passed away in November, 2005 at the age of 73, after a long and courageous struggle with the respiratory condition to which she finally succumbed. Since her death, many tributes have poured in, which is not the least bit surprising in light of just how influential Judy was during her lifetime. Judy was many things: a tireless and passionate spokesperson for the field of clinical social work; a dedicated, deeply introspective clinician; a highly published author, especially of books and articles devoted to understanding and treating children and adolescents; a much-loved educator and mentor to several generations of masters and doctoral social work students at both The University of Chicago and her academic home for the last twenty-six years of her life, New York University School of Social Work.

Judy lectured and wrote on a variety of topics, but always with relevance to the clinical profession with which she was so strongly identified. Her books on clinical child and adolescent treatment are now considered classics, but she was also deeply interested in many other topics, such as psychoanalytic theories and their relationship to contemporary clinical social work, understanding character pathology and the effects of trauma in children and adolescents, and the clinician's subjectivity and countertransference. Judy remained current, always eager to explore new clinical and theoretical terrain. In the 1980s, she became