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.

“Alejandro Avila's Relational Horizons shines a Mediterranean light on relational psychoanalysis, illuminating the state of the field in Spain. This comprehensive edited volume covers the origins of the relational movement, its pioneers, its conceptual foundation, its spirit, and its implications for treatment. The impressive contributors enlighten with their thorough scholarship and therapeutic acumen. Altogether an outstanding volume of essential reading for any clinician. It can introduce the relational approach to those who have not encountered it, and deepen the understanding of those who are already familiar with the relational literature” [Sandra Buechler, Ph.D., author of Clinical Values: Emotions that Guide Psychoanalytic Treatment (Analytic Press, 2004); Making a Difference in Patients' Lives (Routledge, 2008); Still Practicing: The Heartaches and Joys of a Clinical Career (Routledge, 2012) and Understanding and Treating Patients in Clinical Psychoanalysis: Lessons from Literature (Routledge, 2015)].

“In a dialogic treasure from start to finish, Spanish and Catalan relational psychoanalysts both engage and enrich English-speaking relational psychoanalysis.  From philosophy to the clinical moment, these essays provide eyes, ears, and understanding in their varied accents.  Even the introduction is worth the price of the book!” [Donna Orange, Ph.D., author of Thinking for Clinicians: Philosophical Resources for Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Psychotherapies (2010), The Suffering Stranger: Hermeneutics for Everyday Clinical Practice (2011), Nourishing the Inner Life of Clinicians and Humanitarians: The Ethical Turn in Psychoanalysis (2015), and Climate Crisis, Psychoanalysis, and Radical Ethics (2017) all in Routledge].

“Relational Horizons is a marvelous compendium of engaging, and at the same time, deeply scholarly writing that covers the evolution and current status of the relational orientation in Spain.  But saying this scarcely does it justice--in truth, this remarkable book offers a fine account of relational thinking not only in Spain, but worldwide.  Various chapters take up the relational school's history, its main philosophical underpinnings, its central contributors, its theoretical position, and how it's practiced. Key topics--attachment, trauma, the internal and external setting, and many others--are excellently examined. We hear from many of the most thoughtful and influential contemporary Spanish voices, and their voices are intriguing, compelling, and yes, certainly, "passionate." Kudos to Alejandro Avila and his collaborators, for this highly sophisticated, comprehensive text that deeply satisfies the reader in ways both intellectual and emotional. I heartily recommend it to any practitioner--whether novice or experienced--who might be interested in developments in the relational camp both specific to Spanish relational psychoanalysis and in the field at large” (Margaret Crastnopol, Ph.D., Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, supervisor of psychotherapy and faculty member at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, & Psychology in New York City. She is the author of Micro-trauma: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Cumulative Psychic Injury, Routledge, 2015).