The Psychoanalytic Review was established in 1913 and is the oldest continuously published psychoanalytic journal in the world, with its early papers developing from cases at St. Elizabeths in Washington, D.C. The Psychoanalytic Review became a publication of The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis in the 1950s and expanded to include papers from all depth psychological schools, with a wide range of clinical as well as cultural interests.

Currently the leading forum of critical discourse in psychoanalysis, The Psychoanalytic Review is highly respected for its penetrating analyses of contemporary theory and practice. The journal devotes special issues to important themes and thinkers, and reviews current films and books that hold significance for the psychoanalytic community. Contributors have included such noted authorities as Robert Stolorow, Adam Phillips, Thomas Szasz, and W.W. Meissner.

Recent Special Issues have included Psychoanalysis and the Internet and Fundamentalism and Terrorism.