Kluft, Richard P., 1943-

University of Oregon Scholars' Bank

DISSOCIATION has been experiencing a difficult andembarrassing series of production delays. We owe you, ourreaders and our contributors, an apology for any frustrationand inconvenience lhis may have caused you. We value youand your suppon of DlSSOCIA HONas a sciemific and clini-cal forum for the advancement of knowledge about dissoci-ation and about all aspects of the dissociative disorders, andplan to catch up with ourselves very nl.pidly. We have a largenumber of manuscripts already processed, and still moremanuscripts are being processed for publication. The 1995Amsterdam Papers will be published shortly. We are opti-mistlc about the future ofDISSOC/It '110Nand we are lookingforward to presenting a number ofvery interesting issues.In the next few issues of DlSSOClltTIONyou will be ableto read manyof the major presentations from the Amsterdamconference. You will receive further review articles on cru-cial issues such as memory. studies concerning working withtraumatic materials. and observations of dissociative phe-nomena and disorders in previously unstudied populations.You will have the opportuniry to explore new theories. mod-els, and conceptualizations.Turning to the content~of the current issue, many sub-jects of considerable importance are addressed. Chu,Matthews, Frey, and Ganzel provide a scholarly review of thenature of traumatic memories of childhood abuse. Swirskyand Mitchell explore dissociative aspects of the binge-purgecycle and Katz and Gleaves study the relationship betweenthe frequently co-occurring phenomena of dissociative dis-orders and eating disorders. Katz offers clinical observationson aucohypnotic phenomena in eating disordered patientsand describes their clinical management. Goodwin discuss-es Katz' observations. Beere contlnues his study ofswitchingwithin the framework ofexperimental phenomenology. andexplains the theoretical implications of his findings. Priceoffers an explanation of what has been called "inner childwork," and his observations are discussed by Olson. O'Neill.and KIuft. van der Han presents a critique of Hackingsremarks on Pierre Janet and his work. and Cardena reviewsSpiegel's book. Dissociation: CulJuu. Mind and Body.One of the more interesting aspects of Lhe growth anddevelopment of any area of scientific or clinical inquiry isthe changing ~castof characters" among the major contrib-utors to its literature. The dissociative disorders field was nur-tured initially by a relatively small group of pioneer con-tributors. While some remain active participants in the pur-suit offurtber knowledge and continue to develop additionaltherapeutic approaches, others have been silenced by deathor retirement, have directed their energies elsewhere, or feelthat they have already said what they have to say.A erucial aspect of "catching up with ourselves" will bethe encouraging of the emergence of new voices, with newideas and novel perspectives. Many of these new voices haveyet to communicate their ideas or to begin to share theircontributions. It is our earnest hope that DISSOCIItTJONwillsoon be publishing the work of many new contributors.some of whom, no doubt, will in time become toweringfigures in our field. We will be checking our mail witheager anticipation.We invite your suggestions and proposals for specialissues, discussion topics. and new features. Those with spe-cific questions or concerns may feel free to write to me atThe Center for the Study ofDissociative States. P.O. Box 1185,Bala Cynwyd. PA 19004.Richard P. KluJt, M.D.IDISSOCIATION, Vol. IX, l'\o. I, \Iarch 1996

Catching up with ourselves

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University of Oregon Scholars' Bank