The Relational Model: International Relations and Dissemination in Italy: A Historical Account

In this paper we attempt to describe how the relational model spread in Italy primarily from the microcosm of the Institute that we founded—ISIPSÉ—and in which we tried to create a community within which we could study the contemporary theories and meet the psychoanalysts who gave life to the relational movement. We describe a process of creating a cultural space that allows us to dialogue directly with those who contributed to the evolution of contemporary psychoanalysis. Today in psychoanalytic literature the growing importance of the implicit refers primarily to the importance of the body in the analytic relationship. Therefore we believe that in the training of therapists attention for an embodied, physical transmission of psychoanalysis makes the transition from theory to clinical situation more consistent and smoother.