Editorial

This edition of the Journal contains papers from European and North American authors, as well as the work of a number of UK-based practitioners. It opens with a contribution by Dan Burston to ongoing discussion of the legacy and current standing of the Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing. There has been much debate – some of it quite passionate – regarding both Laing's personality and the nature of his contribution to existential theory and practice, and we are pleased to be able to provide a forum for further scholarly insights on these related topics.

As a reflection of the increasingly international focus of the Journal, we are pleased to be able to include two papers by existential practitioners based at the University of Szczecin, Poland. Dr Mausch and Dr Ryś both provide fascinating accounts of their research exploring 'sense of purpose in life'. With Martin Milton and Roly Fletcher's IPA study of the phenomenon of aggression, this edition of the Journal contains three specifically research-based papers. Among other U.K. contributors, Maria Claessens' paper 'Mindfulness and Existential Therapy' and Jyoti Nanda's paper 'Mindfulness – A Lived Experience of Existential-Phenomenological Themes' both delineate significant connections between existential and other ways of working therapeutically.

We are delighted to be able to welcome two new members of our Editorial Board. Dr Alice Holzhey is a leading member of the Zurich Institute for Daseinsanalysis. Prof Maurice Freidman will be known to readers as the author of numerous texts and papers on psychotherapy, and is the international authority on the life and work of Martin Buber.

Simon du Plock

Greg Madison