British Journal of Psychotherapy
From Freud’s legacy to psychoanalytic and Jungian practice today
Published in association with the British Psychotherapy Foundation, the British Journal of Psychotherapy is a journal for psychoanalytic and Jungian-analytic thinkers, with a focus on both innovatory and everyday work on the unconscious in individual, group and institutional practice. As an analytic journal, it has long occupied a unique place in the field of psychotherapy journals with an Editorial Board drawn from a wide range of psychoanalytic, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, psychodynamic, and analytical psychology training organizations. Our articles cover:
- clinical work, whether a single case-study or a general discussion using detailed clinical vignettes from several cases; on intensive and non-intensive work
- assessment; clinical confidentiality; standards, training and supervision; and the current context of audit and evaluation.
- theoretical and research papers
- a psychoanalytic and Jungian-analytic perspective on professional, historical, cultural and political issues.
As an analytic journal, our primary focus is on the unconscious and on transference/countertransference processes, but the BJP has traditionally sought to make links and critical comparisons with other therapeutic methods. We encourage high-quality work-in-progress reports, submissions from clinicians at an early stage of their careers, and international submissions.
Sue Kegerreis
Editor-in-Chief
Sue Kegerreis is the Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Psychotherapy and Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex. She trained as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, initially with children and adolescents at the Tavistock and later with adults at the Lincoln Centre (now the British Psychotherapy Foundation). Throughout her clinical career, she has worked with children, adolescents and adults across CAMHS, hospital, school and private practice settings.
Alongside her extensive clinical experience, Sue has made significant contributions to teaching, training and research within the psychoanalytic and psychodynamic fields. She established and led the MA in Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University of Essex, having previously introduced and directed the MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling with Children and Adolescents at Birkbeck. She has been a strong advocate for practitioner-led research and played a key role in relaunching the Professional Doctorate for psychotherapists and counsellors at Essex. Sue has also published widely on clinical practice, training, research and wider societal issues.
Introducing myself as the new Editor-in-Chief
The British Journal of Psychotherapy has a long and honourable history as a journal which brings together contributions from a very wide range of psychoanalytic and Jungian practitioners, thinkers and researchers. As a result, taking up my post as Editor-in-Chief is a huge responsibility as well as a great privilege. I come with prior experience as an editor, which is useful, but perhaps more importantly I bring to the table the fact that I have experience of so many parts of the therapy world: child, adolescent and adult; clinical and research; psychoanalytic and psychodynamic; private, hospital and clinic-based work; plus an enduring commitment to psychosocial thinking, group relations and wider applied work. My aim is to follow my predecessors in promoting interesting and challenging content from all these varied corners of our expanding and developing profession and more. I want to see the BJP represent the best from both those in established sections of the field, enriching the continuing vitality of the legacy we inherit, and from those at the cutting edge – where innovation and extension of psychoanalytic, psychodynamic and Jungian thinking is taking place.
As I have begun as Editor, some key priorities have emerged. We need to re-invigorate the Editorial Board, which has a vital role in steering and shaping the Journal. In the service of this, we are planning to refresh our relationship with all the organisations that originally sponsored the Journal and hope to develop new relationships with others, recruiting members of the Board from each as well as from the wider readership. There are also vacancies for key positions in the core editorial team: an Assistant Editor, a Book Reviews Editor and members to look after the Focus Point, Clinical Commentaries and New Voices sections of the Journal. Advertisements for these positions will be appearing very soon. Keep your eye open for them, as you too could take up a vital role in the future of the Journal.
The flow of articles into the Journal is currently healthy and encouraging, but I would like to take this opportunity to urge members from all sections of the bpf to consider writing and submitting a paper. We want to make sure that the widening membership is represented, so would particularly like to see contributions coming in from the psychodynamic trainings and others who are not members of the more established groups within the bpf. We also need to expand the list of those willing to review papers once they are submitted. I can recommend this as a highly interesting and worthwhile way to contribute to the profession. You do not have to review a large number of papers, and can choose every time whether what is suggested for you is enticing and/or whether you have the time to give it attention. We always ask for two or more reviewers, so you can compare your response to a paper with that of others, which can be very interesting. Let me know if you would be willing to be added to our reviewer panel, with a brief outline of your main areas of interest.
You will most likely be glad to know that the Rozsika Parker and Estela Welldon Prizes are to be reinstated, having been in abeyance for some time. These have in the past inspired original and impressive contributions which deserve special recognition. The new closing dates for entries are being set and will be announced in the newsletter and on the website.
In conclusion, I look forward to hearing from you, whether through a formal submission of a paper, an application for a place on the Board or the team, an email offering to review papers, or with suggestions for the continuing expansion and development of the Journal. Any professional journal is dependent on its contributors, reviewers and readers for its vibrancy and continued relevance, so please think about what you can do for the Journal, and what you would like the Journal to do for you.
Sue Kegerreis
Editor-in-Chief, British Journal of Psychotherapy
Message from our Director of Academic and Strategic Development
The Journal at the heart of research, education and thought leadership
The British Journal of Psychotherapy (BJP) is more than a leading academic and clinical publication. It is a vital part of the bpf’s commitment to advancing psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and Jungian thought through research, scholarship and professional dialogue. The Journal provides a space where clinicians, researchers, academics and trainees can engage with new ideas, debate contemporary challenges and contribute to the ongoing development of the profession.
As the field continues to evolve, the Journal seeks to foster dialogue across theoretical traditions, professional settings and generations of practitioners. By publishing original research, theoretical papers, clinical reflections and thought-provoking commentary, the Journal helps to ensure that psychoanalytic, psychodynamic and Jungian thinking remains intellectually vibrant, clinically relevant and socially engaged.
Supporting excellence in training and professional development
The Journal plays an important role in the educational life of the bpf, especially now as we move towards registration with the Office for Students (OfS) and pursue our wider strategic objective to become a national centre for excellence in psychotherapy education. The Journal provides trainees and qualified practitioners with access to contemporary research, emerging clinical thinking and debates that are shaping the future of the profession. Through engagement with the Journal, students are encouraged to develop the research literacy, critical thinking and scholarly curiosity that underpin advanced professional practice.
The Journal also offers opportunities for trainees and early-career practitioners to contribute to the profession through writing, reviewing and participating in intellectual exchange. In this way, it helps to nurture the next generation of psychotherapy scholars, researchers and clinical thinkers.
A platform for new voices and new ideas
One of the Journal’s key priorities is to broaden participation and ensure that the diversity of contemporary psychotherapy is reflected in its pages. The Journal welcomes contributions from across the psychoanalytic, psychodynamic and Jungian communities and actively seeks to amplify emerging voices, innovative thinking and interdisciplinary perspectives.
By bringing together established authorities and new contributors, the Journal creates a rich intellectual environment in which tradition and innovation can inform one another. This commitment reflects the bpf’s wider ambition to remain both rooted in its history and responsive to the changing needs of practitioners, trainees and society.
Extending the reach and influence of psychotherapy
The Journal is increasingly positioned as a vehicle for public engagement and professional influence. Through partnerships, enhanced visibility, digital dissemination and wider engagement with research communities, the Journal aims to increase the reach and impact of psychotherapy scholarship both within and beyond the profession.
In doing so, the Journal contributes to the bpf’s broader mission of demonstrating the value of psychotherapy research, supporting evidence-informed practice and promoting psychoanalytic, psychodynamic and Jungian perspectives within contemporary debates about mental health, wellbeing and society. This work strengthens the Foundation’s role as a centre of excellence for training, research and thought leadership.
Dr Wayne Full
Director of Academic and Strategic Development
Rozsika Parker Prize
The BJP’s annual Prize, established in 2013 in memory of Rozsika Parker, focuses on a critical engagement with questions of creativity.
An influential art historian and clinician, Rozsika Parker represented WPF/FPC on the BJP’s Board for many years and was well known for her commitment to creativity, in both art and clinical practice.
The Prize has two entry routes: a Student Path and a Post-Qualification Path.
The call for submissions will be announced in the summer.
Estela Welldon Prize
Dr Estela V. Welldon worked for 40 years at the Portman Clinic in London as Consultant Psychiatrist and Consultant Psychotherapist. She is the Founder and Honorary President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, which, since its foundation, has held professional meetings every year in different parts of the world. Dr Welldon is the author, among many other works, of Mother, Madonna, Whore: The Idealization and Denigration of Motherhood, which challenged the traditional psychoanalytic theory that perversions are unique to males and which exposed the nature of female sexual offending. Creator of the world’s first ever training course in forensic psychotherapy, in collaboration with the medical school at University College London, she has worked as both an individual and group practitioner for decades and continues to do so.
‘As a psychiatrist’, Dr Welldon has written, ‘I have spent my time contemplating the depths of the human psyche – sometimes in despair but usually in wonderment. As a forensic psychotherapist, I have continually been drawn to “the beauty hidden within the ugly”.’ She has often stated that every practitioner must search for the “golden nugget” of goodness and approachability within every patient, even those who seem unapproachable, such as certain forensic patients. The Prize, which is co-sponsored by the BJP and the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, will be awarded annually to the author of a paper which contributes to our understanding of the shadow side of human nature – the ugly side, or what we might previously have called the ‘dark side’ of humanity. This might refer to acts of forensic violence, or cruelty in more intimate contexts. The Prize will be given to the paper which both illuminates the nature of human psychopathology in this area, and which reveals how the analytic clinician can overcome the obstacles and the challenges of therapeutic work to find that golden nugget.
History of the BJP
The British Journal of Psychotherapy was founded by Dr Bob Hinshelwood in the 1980s, to bring together diverse voices in the field of analytical psychotherapy. It was published for many years under his imprint, Artesian Books. Since 2006 the Journal has been co-owned and published by the British Association of Psychotherapists (now part of the bpf) and Blackwell Publishing Company (now Wiley-Blackwell), and has been actively consolidating and developing the first twenty years’ work. Our Aims and Scope statement has recently been revised.
R.D. Hinshelwood is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Essex, and previously Director of the Cassel Hospital.
