THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS AT 70

With this issue we celebrate the 70th year of the continuous publication of the American Journal of Psychoanalysis founded by Karen Horney. We are proud to be one of the oldest psychoanalytic journals in the USA, and at this anniversary we would like to acknowledge all who made our longevity possible. The editors, who followed Karen Horney, M.D. (1941–1952), Harold Kelman, M.D. (1953–1960 and from 1962 to 1969), Ralph Slater, M.D. (1961–1962), Helen DeRosis, M.D. (1969–1985), Mario Rendon, M.D. (1985–1991) and Douglas Ingram, M.D. (1991–2000), were all committed to the highest levels of excellence and respect to the founding members’ wishes to be a forum to communicate the best ideas of psychoanalysis in a spirit of freedom from dogma. Since 2000 I have tried to live up to this august past.

We salute as well the indispensable work of the many members of all the Editorial Boards, and the countless authors whose works have made our journal an invaluable source for clinicians, researchers and students of human sciences for all these decades.

This 70th publishing anniversary coincides with the 125th anniversary of Karen Horney's birth. Just as Karen Horney's life (honored in major biographies, Rubins (1978), Quinn (1987), Paris (1994), and her Adolescent Diaries, published through the efforts of her daughters, Renate and Marianne in 1980), cannot be separated from her theoretical works (published by W. W. Norton, 1937, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1950, 1962, 1967, 1987; in this journal and through the works of Bernard Paris, 1999, 2000), contemplating Horney's life and work is unthinkable without honoring her as a preeminent psychoanalytic educator. One of the founding members of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, the mother training institute of all, Horney was also present at the birth of The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, after emigrating to America in 1932. In 1941, after 8 years of affiliation with the New York Psychoanalytic Society, she left and, with other likeminded colleagues established the American Institute for Psychoanalysis, where she was the Dean until her death in 1952. We are dedicating part of this Special Issue to celebrating Horney's enduring contributions to the world of psychoanalysis, and we hope to generate a healthy debate about the continuation of Horneys’ work as psychoanalytic educator.

The contributions from analysts from the William Alanson White Institute are a reminder of our common origins. Clara Thompson and Erich Fromm founded the White Institute in 1943, after their split from the AIP. There has always been a historical connection between our institutes (Clara Thompson was the President of the AIP in 1942 and Erich Fromm was an important faculty member), and dedicating part of this anniversary issue to psychoanalytic training in the interpersonal tradition pays tribute to that enduring legacy.