The Best Networker Covers of the Past Quarter-Century

One of the livelier Networker rituals is our bimonthly production meeting, at which we decide about the cover art that we hope will capture the spirit and content of the issue's main theme. We're always seeking an image that offers a compelling snapshot of a trend, a controversy, or a new development shaping the trajectory of practice. Here are the editors' selections for the all-time Top 10 Networker covers. We chose them for their ability to bring a particular issue to visual life, but they can be read as a thumbnail history of the major currents and stories of the last 25 years.

The Creative Leap September/October 1984
Much of the focus of the early Networker was the fascination with the consulting-room theatricality of figures like Salvador Minuchin, Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, and Carl Whitaker. For many readers, this cover image captured the prospect of a career devoted to creativity that drew so many young therapists into the field in the '70s and early '80s

S.O.S. for Private Practice January/February 1987
By the mid-1980s, reality began to settle in as the expansive Golden Age of Private Practice reached its limits and a new streamlined, cost-conscious health care system took its place. Many practitioners found their daily professional lives—and incomes—transformed.

The Constructivists Are Coming! September/ October 1988
In the late 1980s, postmodernism and the epistemological position that what we once thought of as "objective reality" doesn't exist apart from the perceiver's construction of it came to the psychotherapy field, as it did to many other academic disciplines. This cover takes a lighthearted view of what could sometimes become a ponderous discussion.

The Shadow of a Doubt September/October 1993
Therapists found their profession in the glare of public controversy when a group called the False Memory Syndrome Foundation accused some abuse-obsessed practitioners of conducting a witch hunt against innocent parents. The debate shrouded the field in Kafkaesque eeriness.

The Last Word May/June 1995
The image of DSM-IV as the Holy Book of psychiatry was perfect for our exploration of how the DSM enterprise brought coherence to a remedicalized psychiatry and came to serve as an essential, legitimizing tool for the managed care industry.

All Talked Out? September/October 1996
With some help from Rene Magritte, this cover depicts the growing interest in moving beyond therapeutic chat as the
primary tool in the consulting room and incorporating some mind-body alternatives into standard practice.

Our Technology, Our Selves March/April 2001
The first issue of the newly christened Psychotherapy Networker was the first to explore the growing impact of technology on our intimate lives, as therapists began to recognize that our various technical gizmos had become virtual family members.

Brain Therapy September/October 2002
By the end of the Decade of the Brain, neuroscientists had opened up a whole New Frontier for clinical practice. Ever since then, therapists have been trying to integrate an understanding of the brain with traditional practice methods.

Beyond Victimhood July/August 2003
After being vilified for promoting the "abuse excuse," therapists became more cautious about focusing exclusively on the wounded inner child. Without returning to the old conspiracy of silence about dark family transgressions, the field began to recognize that even the most deeply affected survivors have the capacity to transcend their wounds.

21st-Century Teens July/August 2006
With the dawn of a new century, it's become increasingly clear that, in addition to traditional tools, therapists needed to have an anthropologist's interest in the all-pervasive, often overwhelming pop culture to be able to connect with their teen clients.

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