SR: You presented at the IARPP conference in Madrid this past summer. Can you speak about the topic of your paper and your experience of being on the panel and at the conference?

KE: Our presentation in Madrid was the fifth time we have presented at an IARPP conference. In the beginning we presented our clinical work predominantly in terms of a relational family perspective. Finding plenty of very eager and interested interlocutors and an international group of relational thinkers and therapists, we developed our work and ideas further to the point that this year we presented work with a young mothers group. This group is one of our newest projects in the development of a relational-attachment foundation to our social and group work. So that we do not lose a deep intrapersonal focus, all of our work is done with clear awareness of the depths of unconscious affect regulation and mutuality of the relational matrix of human experience.

Being on the panel at the conference was a deeply enriching experience of creating new meanings and broadening cultural and clinical horizons of mutual trust and sincere care for the future of the human race. In my view, one of the very unique and important features of these conferences are the artistically and sensitively chosen cultural programs. These programs enable the participants to really live our ideas through the reality of the hosting country and to process ideas in a particular affective atmosphere. Because you meet mostly the same set of people, you can and also must personally, clinically and scientifically grow. It is a very different experience to present ideas in Rome, Athens, Baltimore, Tel Aviv or Madrid.

SR: Tell us about you and your practice. What is your discipline and training? What type of patients do you treat? What are the common problems your patients present with?

KE: I have a PhD in psychology from the University of Ljubljana and was trained in relational family therapy at the Franciscan Family Institute. We were trained by Christian Gostečnik, who obtained his PhD in clinical psychology at Argosy University in Chicago, where he studied the ideas and clinical practices of Stephen Mitchell. He was trained in relational therapy by William Pinsof.

In my training, which lasted three years, I studied extensively object relations theory and Stephen Mitchell's work. Afterwards, while developing our clinical practice which we manage to get funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Family and Social Affairs, we set up a clinical and PhD program in Marital and Family therapy at the University of Ljubljana, where we teach. I supervise beginning therapists in many therapeutic centers and clinics throughout Slovenia. In these centers we treat a variety of patient populations from individuals to families. The Ministry for Family and Social Affairs has funded our insitute’s therapeutic programs for treating families and individuals who cope with violence of all kinds (emotional, physical and sexual), for treating families who face alcoholism and eating disorders. Funding is also for treating young families (families with small children, adolescent parents, foster families and families with children with special needs).

SR: Is there a general interest in psychoanalysis in Slovenia? Is there a community of therapists who are interested in Relational Psychoanalysis in particular?

KE: Since in the European Union there is no general regulation covering therapeutic work, we work under the license from the Ministry of Family and Social affairs. Some years ago our former students set up a Relational Family organization which tries to establish and maintain coverage and clear ground for all relational family therapists.
In Slovenia, there are different therapeutic schools which more or less have adopted relational ideas. But, the main relational force is still coming from a relational family perspective since it is the only therapeutic program taught at the University and has received approval by the state.

SR: What drew you to relational psychoanalysis?

KE: In the late 80’s through the 90’s in Slovenia there was a very prominent movement of theoretical psychoanalysis led by Slavoj Žižek and Mladen Dolar, who held regular and well-attended Monday Evening lectures on Lacanian orientation and psychoanalysis. We (young students) all attended these lectures and began to study various analytical writings, ranging from film, art and music theory to structuralism and French philosophy.

However, there were no prominent relational clinicians who addressed the human condition from a non-medical point of view. As a young psychologist and neuro-psychologist, I realized that there was a connection between how we worked with families and children and the well being of those children with serious problems. I found the relational ideas of mutuality, affect regulation and the importance of the therapeutic relationship very appealing. I still consider them the main force which promotes change and growth.

Until the late 80´s, clinical and therapeutic work in Slovenia barely existed and was mainly connected with psychiatry, so there was a very big empty space and yearning for some relational psycho-therapeutic work. From 1996 till now the relational field has grown into a wide spread clinical, scientific and theoretic field.

I started my PhD thesis around the phenomenon of transference and the relational paradigm which resulted in my book entitled, "The Discovery of the Relationship". Then, I proceeded with therapeutic work and published the second book, "The Hidden Power of the Family". I also started doing research on the therapeutic process. I investigated neuro-psychology, attachment and affect regulation. My third book, Love Heals Memory, is the result of this research. My next publication was dedicated to young families and babies, "The Sensitivity to Children", and the last one, which I published with my husband Tomaž Erzar, "Attachment Theory".

SR: Any other comments or information you would like your colleagues at IARPP to know?

EK: We would like to point out the tragic fate of the Slovenian population after World War II. Only very slowly are conditions developing in which we will be able to understand the essence of this tragedy, which is closely entwined not only with our political and social environment, but also with our interpersonal environment -- our relationships, and our experience of those relationships. Because in the long term, people can live only in secure relationships, dealing with this trauma is a matter of survival. Until we create the conditions for compassionate solidarity and mourning, as a society and as individuals, we will be marked by broken relationships, suppressed despair, false courage, violence, and self-destructive behavior.

Our society has long been subject to strong polarization that forces us to choose one side or the other: the Partisans, led by the Communist Party or the Home Guard, who during World War II allied with the occupying German forces. There seems to be no end to this polarization. This dichotomy can be avoided only by putting ourselves in a position of sympathy with all victims, which, given the emotional reactivity and polarization in the current political situation, is very difficult.

Katarina Kompan Erzar, PhD,
Relational Marital and Family therapist & supervisor,
University of Ljubljana, Franciscan family institute, Presernov trg 4, Ljubljana. lia-katarina.kompan@guest.arnes.si, phone: 00386 40 370 228

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