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journal’s expectations. Readers might want to peruse editorials by Frances Grier of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis ( https://pep- web.org/search?preview=IJP.104.0981A&q=editorial%20%20grier) and Lucy Lafarge of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly ( https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00332828.2024.2316219). These editorials outline two contrasting perspectives on how to best address the publication of clinical material. We hope they will serve as models for how journals might wish to create a stance on how to handle confidential clinical material. 2. The responsibility for vetting clinical material should be clearly delegated to a particular member of the editorial team, who understands that it is her obligation to consider risks that might be present in clinical vignettes and follow each paper through its submission process, ensuring that adequate care has been taken. 3. Once accepted, a direct conversation between the editorial team and the author should ensure that the clinical material has been thoughtfully presented. One rule of thumb is to suggest that everything an author says about her patient would ideally have already been said to her patient. Another is to do the thought experiment of reading the paper through one’s patient’s eyes, trying to imagine how a patient might feel should she recognize herself in the author’s account. 4. There should be a system of checks in place, to ensure that clinical material has been appropriately handled. It is helpful to ask the author to complete a form that discloses how they have addressed concerns with patient confidentiality and requires that authors consider a range of choices that they might make. Appendix A provides the vetting process used by the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Again, we hope this questionnaire might serve as a model for other journals. 5. At the end of every clinical paper, it is recommended that the journal attach a disclosure about the clinical material presented. Appendix B presents a carefully worded example used by both the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. 6. Journals might choose to publish in every volume a statement about confidentiality. Appendix C presents the statement published by The Psychoanalytic Quarterly.
For a comprehensive discussion of confidentiality in psychoanalytic practice as a whole, please see the 2018 Report on Confidentiality. https://www.ipa.world/IPA_DOCS/Report%20of%20the%20IPA%20Confidentiality%20Committee%20(En glish).pdf
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