My affinity for IARPP has to do with a shared vision of what a human being is and what happens when a suffering person needs help. Many of the ideas from classical psychoanalysis, which I learned during my training as psychoanalyst, seemed out of place in the context of actual human relations, when encountering people who suffer and need understanding and empathy. Neutrality and abstinence were among those concepts. There were some theoretical aspects that sounded strange to me when I read them, as is the case with some elements from Melanie Klein’s theory. I came to understand my own unconscious resistance to these concepts, as they seemed awkward to me. When I shared my reflections with other classical psychoanalysts they found them irreverent. I didn’t find any agreement with them, only criticism.

It was in an APA conference, where I was discussing my psychoanalytic opinions, that I fortunately met Steven Knoblauch. He was the one who invited me to become acquainted with IARPP. I was pleased to realize that the association’s ideas coincided with my own view of psychoanalysis.

Later on I met Alejandro Ávila who introduced me to the IARPP-Spain chapter and invited me to establish a group in Mexico. Sometime later, when doing my PhD at the Universidad Intercontinental, I met colleagues who were also interested in relational psychoanalysis. We then decided to found a group to discuss our common interests related to our therapeutic vision. The fact that we came from different training environments made it a particularly enriching experience. In Mexico we didn’t know much about relational psychoanalysis until then. In fact there is still a need to disseminate these ideas.