Relational Horizons

From the Foreword By Spyros D. Orfanso

A funny thing happened to me when I was preparing the scientific program for the 2007 Athens conference for the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP). A computer malfunction caused the loss of information about the panel submissions of the Spaniards who were planning to travel to Greece and participate in the event. I was upset because I had no way to communicate with them. Not knowing even their names, I felt devastation and walked around for days murmuring, “What happened to the Spaniards?”  Finally, the Spaniards sent an email message and we resolved matters.  They came to the conference armed with dazzling theoretical and clinical presentations for an eager international audience. The Andalusian-Athens connection was saved. Years later in 2011, Alejandro Avila of Madrid and Ramon Riera of Barcelona co-chaired the Madrid conference of IARPP, the very year I was president of IARPP. Thus, continued the scholarly contributions of today’s Spaniards to the expansion and dissemination of relational ideas and practice.  If it can be said that relational thinking has been part of the global age of psychoanalysis, and I believe there is clear evidence for this, then the Spaniards have played a crucial role.

Relationality as a concept has evolved over time to become an entity of its own, on which theoretical, social, and educational enterprises have been built. In the development of relational psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, a book emerging from a specific country or geographical region is a natural addition. The creation of this edited volume by Avila is a major achievement. By composing it, Avila and his colleagues allow us to consider the vast archipelago of relational thinking with Spanish eyes.