May 7–10, 2026

With reference to a query posed over twenty-five years ago by relational psychoanalysis’ founder, Stephen Mitchell, this year’s Annual Conference, held in Toronto, asked “Can hate last?” The four-day event, fully entitled “Can Hate Last? Reclaiming Clinical Sensibilities in Relational Psychoanalysis,” was attended by over 500 clinicians and others interested in relational theory and practice, coming together from around the world to engage in contemplation and exploration of the many varieties of hatred, which often involved clarifying its differences from a range of affects such as envy, disinterest, fear, aversion, and love.

We sought to come to terms with the impacts of hating and being hated as they manifest in our patients’ and our own internal worlds as well as in the social-cultural-interpersonal surround in which hatred and destructiveness abound. Divisions, conflicts, splitting, othering, hostilities, battles and wars were encountered over and over in all registers of experience, and yet time and again we found ways to sit with these strains, tolerate the discomfort and pain, and find ways to think together.

In this way, IARPP was able to provide an experience in scarce supply these days. Dare we call it a healing force in this fractured world?

Assembled below are descriptions of two of the numerous panels held over the course of the conference, along with several perspectives and thick descriptions of the conference experiences of several individual participants. I hope that reading this mosaic of impressions gives you a feel for the experience we shared in Toronto.

M. A.

Toronto Conference Reflections:

The Capacity to Hate – Après Coup – Rina Lazar
Candidates Committee – Ashleigh Ide
The Willingness to Remain in Relationship – Alice Sommatis
Child, Adolescent & Parent Committee – Sara Biondi & Rodolfo Pérez Sánchez
Stirrings – Jamie McMillan