The February 2025 issue of the British Journal of Psychotherapy presents a rich collection of articles exploring psychoanalytic themes, clinical practices, and the intersections of psychotherapy within broader cultural topics. Yanxiu Zhang’s article, The uncanny COVID-19 pandemic: The traumatic impact on our sense of the familiar (open access), examines the pandemic’s disruptive effects on our perception of the familiar. Stephen Morris and Gwion Jones descend into the unconscious in their study, Exploring the Unconscious Dynamics of the Balint Group Process, shedding light on the therapeutic and developmental dynamics of these groups.

Henrik Enckell’s piece, Literature and Psychoanalytic Process: A Look Through The Lens of Metaphor (open access), bridges psychoanalysis and literature by examining the transformative role of metaphor in therapy. Fembe Nanji-Rowe critically examines the representation of Black lives in psychoanalysis in Black Rage, White Gaze: How Can Black Lives, Historically Reified, Have ‘Room to Breathe’ in Contemporary Psychoanalysis? (open access).

The collaborative work of Mark J. Goldblatt, Alison C. Phillips, Elsa Ronningstam, Mark Schechter, and Benjamin Herbstman, titled Psychotherapeutic Treatment of Chronic Suicidality, offers valuable clinical insights into addressing persistent suicidality. Harriet Mossop explores the relationship between Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham through a queer phenomenological lens in her article, Was Anna Freud a ‘friend of Dorothy’?  (open access).

Susan Evans contributes the article Gender Dysphoria – The Importance of In-depth Psychological Assessment (open access), advocating for comprehensive psychological evaluations in cases of gender dysphoria. The issue concludes with reviews of several significant works, including: Rethinking the psychoanalysis of masculinity: From toxic to seminal, reviewed by Juliet Newbigin; and Yifat Eitan-Persico’s Oedipal Experiences in Same-Sex Families, reviewed by Alice Field.

Read the full articles, here