This issue of The American's newsletter, the eighteenth since its reincarnation as The American Psychoanalyst, is the last to be published under my stewardship as editor. As I remark to Irene Chiarandini in the interview beginning of page 21 of this issue, editing TAP has been exciting and gratifying, particularly the experience of working with the editorial board and our many other contributors, both members of the Association and others committed to the field of psychoanalysis. I want especially to thank Irene, who is stepping down as associate editor, and Mel Mandel, who is staying on in that capacity. Both have given unstintingly of their time and effort, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.
By now TAP has taken on a life of its own—with an established format, design, and focus—but I am sure my talented and capable successor, William Jeffrey, will soon place his own stamp on it, presenting us change within continuity. The American is indeed fortunate that Bill has agreed to take on the responsibilities of editor. He has had considerable experience with newsletters, having edited The Brooklyn Psychiatrist, newsletter of the Brooklyn Psychiatric Society, from 1982 until 1988. During that time the newsletter won many American Psychiatric Association awards, including citations for newsletter of the year and continued excellence. He also edited the PANY Bulletin, the excellent newsletter of the Psychoanalytic Association of New York, from 1985 until last year. Since 1986 he has been an active member of the staff of TAP, serving under three editors—Gerald Fogel, Estelle Shane, and myself. During this time he has written more than a dozen articles for TAP, concentrated mainly on the organizational history of American analysis but ranging as far afield as the television work of Dennis Potter.
Quake in L.A., Catastrophe in Central Office are front page news in this issue. Is this our disaster number? As Anatole Broyard has written, Nature makes a terrific editor. Leo Rangell's essay, his personal and scientific response to the quake, and the eyewitness accounts of Brickman, Leiken, and Wilson are contributions to the psychology of trauma as well as vivid documents of the human dramas produced and directed by the quake.
Special mention should be made of the section on Psychoanalysis and Social Work. The articles by Barbara McSwain, a social worker analyst recently graduated from the San Francisco Institute, and Jean Sanville, the doyenne of her profession, provide readers a diachronic view of the struggle of clinical social workers to achieve standing and recognition within psychoanalysis. Phyllis Tyson's history of the Committee on Non-Medical Clinical Training can be read as a companion piece to this special section, as it outlines The Americans recent efforts to include qualified social workers in its institutes and societies.
Another effort at inclusion is represented by the reports of Russell Geoffrey and David Orbison on the December meeting. Geoffrey, a psychiatric resident, and Orbison, an analytic candidate, provide fresh perspectives on our activities and in doing so attest the wisdom of two recent attempts at outreach—the Resident Fellowship Program and the newly formed Candidates Council.
Finally, let me direct your attention to the Guidelines box below. A small thing, it would seem, yet it is the fruit of several years' effort at getting TAP onto the information superhighway. It is one of my proudest accomplishments as editor that I am able to bequeath to Bill Jeffrey a smoothly running system and a crack editorial and production team, freeing him for more creative editorial work and larger organizational concerns as he takes the helm.
Say good-bye, Amie. Good-bye.