Introduction

This volume marks the seventh year of publication of the American Psychoanalytic Association's Workshop Monographs. Originated by Arnold Rothstein, M.D., as Editor, with Shelley Orgel, M.D., Melvin Scharfman, M.D., and Rebecca Solomon, M.D., as Associate Editors; nurtured by the interest and hard work of its dedicated authors; and financially supported and encouraged by the members of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the series has enjoyed both popular and critical success. As the new Editor, I would like to describe my sense of its past and my vision of its future.

Each Monograph has consisted of the expanded and edited content of weekend Workshop meetings held during the previous year. These meetings bring together clinicians from a variety of disciplines who join a group of psychoanalytic scholars to explore a single topic. A series of papers on that topic are read and intensively discussed over a two-day period.

The papers, including the formal discussions, are then revised by the authors, and edited. Aspects of the informal discussions are summarized and included in the final Monograph, placing the reader in the midst of a dialogue on subjects which have included reconstruction of psychological trauma, dream analysis, models of the mind, effectiveness of treatment, and the significance of observational research with infants.

The Monographs, and the workshops on which they are based, will continue to explore basic psychoanalytic concepts and issues and, if successful, will do so with clarity and directness. Clinical examples will be provided throughout to illustrate ideas, to expand the reader's acquaintance with clinical technique, and to allow the reader to evaluate the authors' conclusions. As in the past, our authors will be outstanding thinkers and clinicians. Continuing with the topical approach, which sets