To the Editor:

Because the Newsletter, in greeting a new decade, “hopes to continue offering the opportunity for all members to share news of common interest and to communicate views about current concerns,” it seems appropriate to combine these two functions in this brief reprise.

Response to the Point of View, “Our New Mythology,” was astounding, at least to its author. There were letters from all over the country; from colleagues not known to me personally, as well as from fellow researchers and colleagues of many years acquaintance. Included in the unexpected harvest of mail were manuscripts and letters of refusal of these manuscripts by the most widely read psychoanalytic journals as confirmatory evidence for some of the points made. In length and style reactions varied considerably. There was a two-word letter from a psychoanalyst who is also Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of a prestigious medical school: “Right on!,” and then, of course, Dr. Wallerstein's fullsome article in the last issue of the Newsletter. My personal thanks to all who read the piece and shared with me their feelings about it.

Considering what an appropriate response might be, the advice of a gifted and devoted supervisor came to mind. He said, “Think very carefully before you proffer an explanation in psychoanalysis, then observe carefully what the results are. If the intervention produces noisy denials or protestations of exaggeration, don't repeat it. Wait. The time may come when it can be heard.”

Lucy Zabarenko, Ph.D.

Rockford, Ill.