diff --git a/src/pie_modules/taskmodules/pointer_network_for_end2end_re.py b/src/pie_modules/taskmodules/pointer_network_for_end2end_re.py
index 2042f0ec4..1ae43bc98 100644
--- a/src/pie_modules/taskmodules/pointer_network_for_end2end_re.py
+++ b/src/pie_modules/taskmodules/pointer_network_for_end2end_re.py
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ class PointerNetworkTaskModuleForEnd2EndRE(
     ],
 ):
     PREPARED_ATTRIBUTES = ["labels_per_layer"]
+    REVERSED_RELATION_LABEL_SUFFIX = "_reversed"
 
     def __init__(
         self,
@@ -114,6 +115,8 @@ def __init__(
         document_type: str = "pytorch_ie.documents.TextDocumentWithLabeledSpansBinaryRelationsAndLabeledPartitions",
         tokenized_document_type: str = "pie_modules.documents.TokenDocumentWithLabeledSpansBinaryRelationsAndLabeledPartitions",
         relation_layer_name: str = "binary_relations",
+        add_reversed_relations: bool = False,
+        symmetric_relations: Optional[List[str]] = None,
         none_label: str = "none",
         loop_dummy_relation_name: str = "loop",
         constrained_generation: bool = False,
@@ -167,6 +170,8 @@ def __init__(
         self.span_layer_name = annotation_field_mapping_inv.get(
             relation_layer_target, relation_layer_target
         )
+        self.add_reversed_relations = add_reversed_relations
+        self.symmetric_relations = set(symmetric_relations or [])
         self.none_label = none_label
         self.loop_dummy_relation_name = loop_dummy_relation_name
         self.constrained_generation = constrained_generation
@@ -454,6 +459,7 @@ def encode_annotations(
 
         # encode relations
         all_relation_arguments = set()
+        relation_arguments2label = dict()
         relation_encodings = dict()
         for rel in layers[self.relation_layer_name]:
             if not isinstance(rel, BinaryRelation):
@@ -466,6 +472,28 @@ def encode_annotations(
                     raise Exception(f"failed to encode relation: {rel}")
                 relation_encodings[rel] = encoded_relation
                 all_relation_arguments.update([rel.head, rel.tail])
+                relation_arguments2label[(rel.head, rel.tail)] = rel.label
+                if self.add_reversed_relations:
+                    reversed_label = rel.label
+                    if reversed_label not in self.symmetric_relations:
+                        reversed_label += self.REVERSED_RELATION_LABEL_SUFFIX
+                    if (rel.tail, rel.head) in relation_arguments2label:
+                        previous_label = relation_arguments2label[(rel.tail, rel.head)]
+                        logger.warning(
+                            f"reversed relation already exists: {rel.tail} -> {rel.head} with "
+                            f"label {previous_label} (reversed label: {reversed_label}). Skipping."
+                        )
+                        continue
+                    reversed_rel = BinaryRelation(
+                        head=rel.tail,
+                        tail=rel.head,
+                        label=rel.label + self.REVERSED_RELATION_LABEL_SUFFIX,
+                    )
+                    encoded_reversed_rel = self.relation_encoder_decoder.encode(
+                        annotation=reversed_rel, metadata=metadata
+                    )
+                    if encoded_reversed_rel is not None:
+                        relation_encodings[reversed_rel] = encoded_reversed_rel
 
         # encode spans that are not arguments of any relation
         no_relation_spans = [
@@ -846,4 +874,24 @@ def create_annotations_from_output(
         for layer_name in layers:
             annotations = self.get_mapped_layer(untokenized_document, layer_name=layer_name)
             for annotation in annotations:
-                yield layer_name, annotation.copy()
+                # handle relations that may be reversed
+                if layer_name == self.relation_layer_name and self.add_reversed_relations:
+                    if not isinstance(annotation, BinaryRelation):
+                        raise Exception(
+                            f"expected BinaryRelation when handling reversed relations, but got: {annotation}"
+                        )
+                    head, tail = annotation.head, annotation.tail
+                    label = annotation.label
+                    # if the relation is symmetric, we sort head and tail to ensure consistent order
+                    if annotation.label in self.symmetric_relations:
+                        head, tail = sorted(
+                            [annotation.head, annotation.tail], key=lambda x: (x.start, x.end)
+                        )
+                    # if the relation was reversed, we need to reconstruct the original label and swap head and tail
+                    elif annotation.label.endswith(self.REVERSED_RELATION_LABEL_SUFFIX):
+                        # reconstruct the original label and swap head and tail
+                        label = annotation.label[: -len(self.REVERSED_RELATION_LABEL_SUFFIX)]
+                        head, tail = tail, head
+                    yield layer_name, annotation.copy(head=head, tail=tail, label=label)
+                else:
+                    yield layer_name, annotation.copy()