The February 2026 issue of the British Journal of Psychotherapy opens with the Issue Information – Cover and Editorial Board, a free-access foundational piece that outlines the journal’s current leadership, vision, and organisational structure. Following this is a critical sociopolitical inquiry by Nilofer Kaul in Psychoanalysis in the Colony: Of mimicry, camouflage and native informants, which examines the historical and psychological layers of practice within colonial contexts. Moving into clinical theory, Peter McGovern explores the nuances of trauma in From absence to presence: Symbolizing early object loss and symbolic failures in psychoanalytic trauma therapy, focusing on how analysts can help patients give form to early, unspoken absences.
Contemporary social challenges are addressed by Tracey Cockerton Tattersall and Nadja Rolli, who investigate The growing prevalence of mental health needs of children and young people, while Friedrich Stiefel and Laurent Michaud offer poignant Reflections on psychodynamic psychotherapy for patients with cancer facing existential threat in their open access article. The observational method is scrutinised by Jan McGregor Hepburn in Being observed in infant observations, which highlights the subjectivity of the observer. In the New Voices section, Shira Avital provides A qualitative exploration of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapists (open access) breaking down the often-taboo topic of financial dynamics in the consulting room. The issue concludes with a Focus Point by Ana Minozzo and Raluca Soreanu Practicing psychoanalysis otherwise: Free clinics past, present and future, and a book review by Janet Sayers of David Russell’s Marion Milner: On creativity, which reflects on the intersection of art, life, and the analytic mind.