Psychiatry

Interpersonal and Biological Processes

ISSN: 0033-2747 (Print) 1943-281X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upsy20

Problems and Techniques of Supervision

Martin Grotjahn

To cite this article: Martin Grotjahn (1955) Problems and Techniques of Supervision, Psychiatry,
18:1, 9-15, DOI: 10.1080/00332747.1955.11022990

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 Problems and Techniques of Supervision t
Martin Grotjahn*

I N MY WORK in recent years, I have found supervision becoming more and more
of a problem, a challenge, and a reason for dissatisfaction to me. Because I found
that I was developing a quite intense dislike for it, I began to study it seriously, noting
my own observations, testing various methods, and reading the literature on the
subject. I discussed the problem with my colleagues and talked about it at conven-
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tions; and in doing so, I was surprised to find resignation, bitterness, and frequently
dissatisfaction. When I asked others what they remembered about their own experi-
ence at being supervised, several of my senior colleagues who are known for their
original research said, in effect, "I always saw to it that I went to a supervisor who
would interfere with me as littl~ as possible."
.As a part of my study of the problems time was required than I had spent in
and techniques of supervision, I myself active therapy. with the patient.
underwent once again a modified form of In this paper I shall discuss supervi-
supervision in order to get the feel of it. sion in all the various fields of psychiatry,
I started out by giving seminars where I whether the specific situation is desig-
presented cases which I had treated, and nated as a psychoanalytic one, a psychi-
later I presented cases to my colleagues atric one, or a psychotherapeutic one.
and seniors. This experience was so edu- Analytic training has been the model for
cational that I can recommend it to other the development of organized teaching in
psychoanalysts, no matter how late they the general field of psychiatry, and some
may be in their careers; in my own case, of the experience I shall report falls
I underwent the experience of being within the field of analytic training. Yet
supervised again after almost twenty-five with certain exceptions which I shall
years as a psychiatrist and twenty years note, the observations I shall make apply
of membership in the Psychoanalytic As- to supervision Of all kinds of psychiatric
sociation. One of the many interesting situations. The impracticability of hard
things I learned in this experiment was and fast distinctions between whether a
that it took me more than 300 hours to given patient is in analysis or psycho-
write up and present reports on 280 treat- therapy, for instance, is demonstrated by
ment hours. While I can speak spontane- the fact that even though the doctor is in
ously about a case with little preparation, a nominally psychotherapeutic situation
I found that if I wanted to express my- with a patient, he will, depending on his
self really to my own satisfaction, more skill and freedom, at. times tend to enter
* M.D. Kaiser Friedrich Univ. (Berlin) 29; Intern, Reinickendorf Hosp.; Head Physician, Clinic for
Neurology and Psychiatry (Charite), Univ. (Berlin) 30-36; Staff Member, Menninger Clinic 36-38; Staff
Member, Institute for Psychoanalysis, Chicago 38·46; Section Chief, Neuropsychiatry, U.S. Army Med. Corps
43-46; Instructor, Los Angeles Institute for Psychoanalysis 46-49; Consultant, V.A. Mental Hygiene Clinic and
Brentwood Hospital, Los Angeles 46-; Instructor, Institute for Psychoanalytic Medicine of Southern Cali-
fornia, 49-; Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Univ. of Southern California School of Medicine.
·Member, Amer. Med. Assoc.; Chicago Med. Soc.; Amer. Psychoanalytic Assoc.; International Psychoanalytic
Assoc.; Amer. Psychiatric Assoc.; President, Society fo r Psychoanalytic Medicine of Southern California, 52-.
t The experimental approach to problems of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic supervision described
in this paper was conducted outside of the analytic training program of the Institute for Psychoanalytic
Medicine of Southern California, as a research project supported by a grant from the DeWitt Stetten Foun-
dation in New York. The opinions reported here are entirely the views of the author and do not represent
the opinions or the practice of the Institute, which follows the rules and regulations as outlined by the
Board on Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
[9]
 10
into an analytic situation with this
patient.
PSYCHOANALYTIC LITERATURE ON
SUPERVISION 1
Supervision as a part of analytic train-
ing was systematized early in th,e history
of psychoanalytic institutes and was prac-
ticed in the Berlin Institute for Psycho-
analysis as early' as 1920. During the
1920's and 1930's, occasional papers about
supervision were presented and discussed
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at psychoanalytic congresses, but only
summaries of these papers appear in the
International Journal. 2 An early contro-
versy concerned separation of training
analyst from analytic supervisor, with the
Hungarian group favoring the combina-
tion of both functions in the same person. 8
Two interesting papers on supervision
were presented at the 1937 Congress of
Budapest. Edward Bibring'" described
a special form of free reporting which is
intended to give simultaneous insight into
the patient and into the psychoanalytic
1 In my paper, "Present Trends in Psychoanalytic
Training," an attempt has been made to cover this
field [read in October 1952 in Chicago at the twenty-
year anniversary celebration of the Chicago Insti-
tute for Psychoanalysis]. For the published version,
see Twenty Years of Psychoanalysis, edited by Franz
Alexander and Helen Ross; New York, Norton, 1953;
pp.84-113.
For additional bibliography, see the following pa-
pers: (1) Grotjahn, "Problems of Training Analysis
as Compared to Problems of Therapeutic Analysis"
[unpublished paper read as introduction to the
Round-Table Conference on "Training and Thera-
peutic Analysis," Annual Meeting (1953) of the
American Psychoanalytic Association in Los An-
geles]; for summary see J. Amer. psychoanal. Assn.
(1954) 2:175·178; pp. 175-176. (2) Grotjahn, "Train-
. ing the Third Ear: Report on an Attempt at Teach-
ing Conjecture in Psychotherapy," in ExploratWna
in Psychoanalysis: Essays in honor of Theodor Retk,
on the occasion of his s1:cty-fifth birthday, May 12,
1953, edited by Robert Lindner; New York, Julian
Press, 1953; pp. 221-229. (3) Grotjahn, "About the
Relation Between Psycho-analytic Training and Psy-
cho-analytlc Therapy" [read at the 18th Interna-
tional Psycho-Analytical Congress at London on
July 29, 1953]; for published version, see Internat.
J. Psychoanal. (1954) 35: 254-262.
• See Max Eitingon et al., "Reports of the Inter-
national Training CommiSSion," Internat. J. Psycho-
anal., vols. 7-20, 1926-1939; passim.
• Vilma Kovacs, "Trainlng- and Control-Analysis,"
Internat. J. Psychoanal. (1936) 17:346-354.
• Edward Bibring, "Methods and Technique of
Control Analysis" [a part of the report of the Four
Countries Conference of the International Training
Commission], Internat. J. Psychoanal. (1937) 18:369-
370. See also Grete L. Blbrlng, discussion at the
Round-Table Conference on "Training and Thera-
peutic Analysis," Annual Meeting (1953) of the
American Psychoanalytic Association in Los Angeles,
J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. (1954) 2:177.
MARTIN GROTJAHN
situation between the patient and the re-
porting doctor. Since the training analyst
has more practical psychoanalytic experi-
ence, supervision aims at the avoidance
of beginners' mistakes. Bibring men-
tioned that control analysis should not be
used to "analyze" the candidate during
the control. Whatever the training ana-
lyst has to say should be given in the
form of advice, not as personal interpre-
tation and not as orders. Karl Landauer 5
also reported his experience at this Con-
gress. Of special interest is his statement
about the transference situation in super-
vised work: a positive transference of the
candidate to his supervisor should be re-
garded as transference, and a negative
one as reality.
One of the most interesting, thoughtful,
and penetrating contributions to the sci-
ence of psychoanalytic training was pub-
lished by Michael Balint in 1948.6 He
mentioned that neither Freud nor Fer-
enczi, Abraham nor Jones liked to con-
duct supervised work. Although they.
took a prominent part in psychoanalytic
training, supervised work was not an
important part of their activities. These
men seem not to have been interested in
indoctrination or in developing disciples;
they were more interested in develop-
ing independent workers in the field of
analysis.
In a recent publication, Lionel Blitzsten
and Joan Fleming 1 have given a detailed
account of their unusually interesting
supervisory experience in analytic train-
ing. According to them, a good supervi-
sion is a "supervisory analysis." It tries
to accomplish analytic goals. It should
help the student to recognize his still un-
resolved conflicts which interfere with his
• Karl Landauer, "Methods and Technique of Con-
trol Analysis" [a part of the report of the Four
Countries Conference of the International Training
Commission] Internat. J. Psychoanal. (1937) 18:371.
• Michael Balint, "On the Psycho-Analytic Training
System," Internat. J. Psychoanal. (1948) 29:163-173.
See also Balint, "Analytic Training and Training
Analysis" [Contribution to a Symposium on "Prob-
lems of Psycho-Analytic Training" at the 18th In-
ternational Psycho-Analytical Congress, London,
1953] Int. J. Psychoanal. (1954) 35:157-162.
I have also received personal communications
from Balint on this SUbject, dated October 7 and 16,
1953, and March 6, 1954.
'N. Lionel BUt2sten and Joan Fleming, "What is
a Supervisory Analysis?" Bull. Menn1inger Clinic
(1953) 17: 117-129.
 PROBLEMS AND TECHNIQUES OF SUPERVISION
becoming an effective analyst. The stu-
dent should constantly be kept to the task
of his self-analysis. Usually the super-
visor reacts as if his student's patient
were his own patient and he were con-
ducting the analysis himself, so that the
student analyst functions only as a me-
dium for the transmission of the super-
vising analyst's ideas to the patient. The
authors consider this the wrong form of
analytic experience.
Blitzsten and· Fleming state that dur-
ing the time that the student analyst is
still in his didactic analysis, he will be
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most resistant toward analyzing his coun-
tertransference with the supervisor.
Therefore, he should start to conduct
analysis under supervision when his con-
scious resistance to working out his own
personality problems is at a minimum.
He should be in a situation where he ac-
cepts the need for thorough investigation
of any aspects of his behavior which could
be a hindrance to his free analytic work
and his skill.
The most important aspect of the super-
vision seems to these authors to lie in the
way in which the transference-counter-
transference problems of the student are
recognized. The supervisor should take
an active part in the interpretation of
countertransference to the student. It is
for this reason that the authors prefer to
speak of "supervisory analysis" instead
of "supervision of analysis." Only as
supervisory analysis does it involve more
than a classroom procedure in the inter-
pretation of the patient's material, the
learning of technical devices for the
handling of specific problems, or the sim-
ple awareness of transference-counter-
transference phenomena.
In a later paper Fleming 8 discusses
supervision in psychiatric training, de-
scribing three different stages of learning.
In the first stage the student learns by
imitation while he identifies with his
supervisor. In the second stage he
changes to corrective learning, in which
he becomes aware of his mistakes and
handicaps. Most constructive is the third
8 Joan Fleming, "The Role of Supervision in Psy-
chiatriC Training," Bull. Menninger Clink (1953)
17:157-169.
11
stage, "creative" learning, in which the
student, with incr~asing inSight into in-
terpersonal relationships, develops skill
in understanding the relationship be-
tween himself and his patient as an im-
portant therapeutic experience.
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN SUPERVISION
I now turn to practical experience with
techniques of supervision. While I shall
discuss it mainly within the framework of
psychoanalytic training, I shall also touch
on related fields, such as supervision in
psychiatry and in individual and group
psychotherapy.s The first problem of psy-
choanalytic supervision is, when should
the student start it? Theoretically this
question is answered easily. The candi-
date is ready when he has learned how to
activate the unconscious of his patients
with due understanding of transference
and resistance, without reacting himself
with undue anxiety or unrecognized feel-
ings of countertransference; and when he
has learned how to use interpretation as
the essential tool of psychoanalytic tech-
nique. He also should have. reached that
stage in his own analysis where he will-
ingly demonstrates and bares his uncon-
scious motivation in his work to the
supervisor. He should be mature and in-
dependent enough to stand up to the
strain of eventual differences in opinion
and interpretation between his own train-
ing analyst and analytic supervisor.
This is the theoretic answer; yet the
timing of supervision offers :practical diffi-
culties. It is my impression that the dan-
gers of an early start of supervised work
are overestimated and are not founded on
clinical observation. Today most students
are residents of psychiatric hospitals and
treat patients with psychotherapy before
they begin analytic training. The transi-
tion from this psychotherapeutic work to
psychoanalytic treatment is gradual. The
student recognizes when his patients or
some of his patients are "in analysis." The
serious-minded and sincere candidate will
9 For a more complete discussion, see Grotjahn,
"Special Problems in the Supervision of Group Psy-
chotherapy," Group Psychotherapy; J, Sociopsycho-
pathology ana Sociatry (1951) 3:308-315.
 12
be guided by his medical conscience into
analytic work if he feels free and spon-
taneous in his work, for he feels strongly
his duty to use what he has learned from
his own analysis in the treatment of his
patients.
I do not defer supervision until the can·
didate finds a suitable case for analytic
work. I assume that he wants to start
with a discussion of his entire work, not
of one case. I prefer to discuss many of
his patients before we settle down to the
supervised analysis of one patient. Dur-
ing this process much can be learned
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about the qualities and limitations of the
candidate.
The search for a patient suitable for
analytic therapy is frequently a sign of
resistance. If the therapist assumes that
there are patients easy and well fitted
for supervised work, this may nourish a
tendency in the therapist to suit the pa-
tient to the therapy, and not to suit the
therapy to the patient. On the other
hand, an investigation conducted by
Heinz Hartmann 10 has shown that the
patients chosen for analysis by the candi-
dates themselves and taken from their
own practice have a better prognosis and
are more frequently carried through to
completion than assigned cases. This
suggests that the candidate may be an
efficient judge in selection of cases.
Frequently the choice of the first case
in itself indicates the candidate's courage
or timidity, his predilections, his special
fitness, and the difficulties or advantages
of his remaining character neurosis. Oc-
casionally I recommend a particular pa-
tient as a first case for analytic supervi-
sion in the hope that the candidate may
continue or deepen his analytic insight·
into himself. by analytic work with this
patient. This has proved remarkably suc-
cessful and productive in regard to ther-
apy and training, and under especially
favorable circumstances, for research.
In the course of training-analysis, the
training analyst may feel that he owes it
to his medical conscience to safeguard
the patient in treatment with his candi-
·10 This is reported on in "Events in the Psycho-
analytic World," Bull. Amer. psychoanal. Assn., vol.
7, no. 3 (September 1951) pp. 203·205.
MARTIN GROTJAHN
date against misuses and avoidable mis-
takes of analytic technique. If the candi-
date begins to make mistakes with his
patients, or to act out, the training analyst
will be tempted to step out of his analytic
role. I have found it best to delegate this
kind of supervision to a colleague.
Early in psychiatric or psychotherapeu-
tic supervision I pay a visit to the stu-
dent doctor in his office, for his reports
gain new meaning when I can visualize
his field of operation. My observations
allow me to guess something about his
habits and manners, his freedom and
spontaneity, his tact, and perhaps also his
devotion to his work. I note the arrange-
ment of the waiting room, where his sec-
retary sits, and how the chairs and couch
in his office are placed; I look to see where
the student doctor places his watch, know-
ing that we all live according to the
minutes of our schedules.
Once during such an office visit I made
a truly startling discovery. For some
reason the couch was placed so that there
was not room for the doctor's chair be-
hind the patient. The doctor had there-
fore placed his chair at the side of the
couch in such a way that, as I was as-
tounded to see, it looked as if he literally
turned his back on his patient. He
frankly stated that this was what he in-
tended to do, and his rationalization was .
that it guaranteed the patient his privacy.
Whether such a severe disturbance of
intuition, tact, and feeling for the thera-
peutic situation can ever be analyzed re-
mains doubtful. I associate on this point
a story told about Beethoven: After he
had listened to a young man play for him,
he rendered his verdict with the words,
"My dear fellow, you will have to practice
a long time before you recognize that you
have no talent."
Many of the observations I make dur-
ing such an office visit remain subliminal;
but all together they help to develop a
teamwork relationship between the pa-
tient, the student doctor, and me, and
they help me to recognize the problems
which stand in the way of such a rela-
tionship. I do not conduct myself in the
a
spirit of Saturday inspection, as some
 PROBLEMS AND TECHNIQUES OF SUPERVISION
of us remember it from army times. I do
not hide or inhibit my curiosity. Occa-
sionally I make it quite clear what I think
about certain paintings or about, for
instance, a gun mounted above the head
of the unsuspecting patient lying on the
couch. I am willing to make concessions
to the spirit of the West; but simultane..:
ously I reserve the right to raise my
eyebrows.
After I have gotten acquainted with the
student doctor and have visited him in
his office, I can evaluate him along a con-
tinuum which reaches, in my mind, from
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the type of candidate whom I consider
normal but boring, to the type whom I
consider highly gifted but very sick. The
bore, as representative of the well-
adjusted young man, seems to need little
personal therapy because his defenses
appear to be well adjusted. He needs,
however, a practically endless training
analysis, and the results will be doubtful.
On the other hand, the gifted but very
sick student doctor seems to need little
analysis for training reasons. He seems
to be the born therapist. He needs, how-
ever, a practically endless analysis for
therapeutic reasons. Between these two
extremes, I find a place for almost any
member of the student population.l l
Seeing candidates in their own setting
is a technique I have adopted because of
the frequent difficulty of evaluating a stu-
dent doctor's work only on the basis of
supervision or consultation;- and the ne-
cessity I have felt for improving the
method of selecting candidates. Some-
times a candidate who seems to pro-
gress rapidly while under supervision
turns out to be merely passive and sub-
missive, learning by imitation or iden-
tification and soon being stopped by the
limitations of this procedure, Other stu-
dent doctors offer only the patient's
material, hiding behind it so that the
supervisory analysis never really gets
going. The artistic, intuitive type of can-
didate is particularly difficult to judge;
11 Therese Benedek has discussed this topic in an
unpublished paper entitled, "Problems Related to
the Termination of Training Analysis," which was
read at the Panel Discussion of the American PSy-
choanalytic Association, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1,
1954.
13
he can mislead the overworked and tired
supervisor in various ways. The most
dangerous path for the supervisor to take
is to play up to him.
So far I have been talking mainly about
what I consider the first phase of super-
vision-the period' of preparation. This
is the period during which the student
doctor and supervisor get acquainted
with each other, and the supervisor gets
an impression of the entire patient load
of the student doctor. During this phase
supervision is the least specifically analy-
tic. It is closely related to the techniques
and aims of supervision in psychiatry or
psychotherapy. The main aim is to avoid
the typical mistakes of the beginner. Su-
pervision is patient-directed, and not yet
physician-directed. It is a time of trial
in which the supervisor guides the can-
didate in his work and tests him to see
whether he is spontaneous and free in his
reporting of the patient's productions and
in demonstrating his own feelings and re-
actions toward the patient.
What I term the second phase of ana-
lytic supervision is a period of growing in-
sight into the psychodynamics of the pa-
tient's personality and his sickness. I
should mention, in discussing these
phases of supervision, that they are, of
course, overlapping rather than discrete.
During this second phase the candidate
should develop a way of reporting that is
free from anxiety and does not depend
on written notes, for the unconscious is
still the best recording device. When
the candidate reaches this anxiety-free
method of communication about his pa-
tients and his own relation to them, he
hardly needs any more supervision. As
a rule, this is only an approximate goal;
a self-doubting and questioning attitude
will protect the candidate against chang-
ing into anxiety-free but still resistive be-
havior as, for instance, in smug, verbose,
intellectual self-contentment.
Control work should not be used as a
means of competition by the supervisor
with the training analyst. However, by
discussing his patients with the supervis-
ing analyst, the candidate can integrate
many interpretations which have direct
 14 MARTIN GROTJAHN

bearing on his own character neurosis. of a psychotherapist under supervision,

Sometimes it is possible that the candi- I suggest that I see the patient, either by
date, caught with his defenses down, may myself or in the presence of the student
accept interpretations given in relation doctor. I proceed analytically in making
to his behavior toward the patient which this proposal; that is, I make my recom-
have been given to him many times in mendation and then slowly and patiently
his own analysis without result. His dif- interpret the student doctor's resistance
ferently structured transference resist- against such unconventional procedure.
ance in the supervised situation may I have been surprised myself to see how
enable him to integrate this insight and easily such a consultation can be ar-
then take the further step of working it ranged, in much the same way as any
through in his own analysis. I avoid tell- other· medical consultation.
ing the candidate directly: "This is a Although it is possible for a busy physi-
blind spot of yours; this you have to take cian to diagnose a child's measles over the
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up in your analysis." I have found too telephone, the conscientious physician

often that such advice is ineffective be- will go and look at the child himself. In
cause it is warded off by the candidate's the same way, I think that if the super-
resistance, reinforced by the training ana- visor does not allow himself to become
lyst's corresponding resistance. Thus if muscle-bound from awe of traditional
I have the feeling during supervisory principles of analytic training, he will
work that we are beginning to tread on sometimes, when he feels the need of it,
ground which is better reserved for the ask to see the patient himself. I realize
candidate's training analyst, I try to acti- that it is frequently possible for the super-
vate the hidden emotions in such a way visor to see in the report of the student
that the candidate is likely to bring this doctor what the student doctor does not
emotional experience into his analysis. see in his patient. But it also sometimes
Problems of countertransference must happens that the supervisor gets lost in
be raised during the supervisory analysis, the material and in the student doctor's
but as a rule cannot be settled there. The confusion. The supervisor's finding out
candidate has to take such problems back for himself sometimes permits a fresh
into his own analysis, or has to settle chance, a new beginning.
them by himself in the beginning of what When I see the patient with his doctor
I shall call, for want of a better term, his present as a participant observer, my
self-analysis. The supervisor can only later interpretation can then be based
help him to start a process of self-analysis upon a clinical experience common to
which will be continued for the rest of both of us. In addition, I can demonstrate
the analyst's life. to the student doctor and the patient alike
I think that it is advisable to follow the how I would proceed further with the
rule that the training psychoanalyst treatment. I have seen astonishingly
should not supervise the first two cases good results of this procedure, so far as
of an analysand. However, after the the process of the learning of the student
analysand has had some experience in doctor is concerned. Follow-up studies
being supervised by another analyst, have convinced me that the later relation-
there are great and definite advantages ship between the patient and the student
in having at least one case controlled with doctor can be safeguarded by proper tech-
his own training analyst. This usually niques. As I said earlier, I am here talk-
takes place during the latter stages of ing more about supervision of psycho-
psychoanalytic training. therapy or psychiatric treatment rather
An experiment I should like to men- than about strictly psychoanalytic pro-
tion here is one which I have tried oc- cedures; looking back over my experi-
casionally and successfully in psychi- ence, I find that these consultations as a
atric and psychotherapeutic supervision. rule have fallen outside the framework
When I am not satisfied with the progress of analytic training. Incidentally, when
 PROBLEMS AND TECHNIQUES OF SUPERVISION
I see the patient in the presence of his
doctor, I do not ask them to come to my
office. Instead I join them in the place
where they are accustomed to work-and
my earlier visit to the student doctor's
office has paved the way for this.
Such consultations have led to an un-
usual experiment in psychotherapy with
a few psychotic patients whose doctors I
supervise. The student doctors see their
patients regularly every day, while I join
them approximately once a week. This
kind of procedure offers powerful stimu-
lation to the treatment situation, and so
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far the results are encouraging. After I
had started to experiment with this
method, I discovered that Carl A. Whit-
aker and Thomas Malone were using a
similar method which they term "multi-
ple relationship therapy." Whitaker 12
has given me an opportunity to observe
his straightforward, effective method of
supervising medical students who un-
dergo their first experience with conduct-
ing psychotherapy. In the little booths of
the outpatient department where the psy-
chotherapy takes place there is always a
third chair, and Whitaker or his assist-
ants go from booth to booth and sit in on
psychotherapy sessions. The supervisor
may remain silent; however, it is the
privilege of either the patient or the stu-
dent doctor to turn to him if they wish,
and he also has a right to interfere spon-
taneously if he feels inclined to do so. If
this is done in the right spirit, as I have
seen Whitaker do it, it can be of great
therapeutic and educational value. Here
again, I should mention that I am talking
about the supervision of beginners in
therapy unrelated to analytic training.
When I am called upon to supervise
group psychotherapy or am called in as
a consultant because a difficult situation
has arisen in the progress of group
psychotherapy, I always join the group
without much previous introduction or
preparation. I would not expect even an
experienced group therapist to report
1lI 'Vllitakllr i~ PI'OftlDDor and Cllnil'mnn, Depart-
ment of Poyohiatry, Emory Univel'sity Melllca!
Sollool, Atlanta, Georgia. For a description of mul-
titHe therapy, "ee, fur IllS Lance. John Warkentin,
Nan L. Johnson, and Carl A. Whitaker, "A Com-
parison of Individual and Multiple Psychotherapy,"
PSYCHIATRY (19til) 14:415-418.
15
about his group without my having ob-
served the group, for I can see more with
my own eyes in a few minutes than a
group therapist could tell me in hours.
There are also powerful controls in the
group, in the unlikely case that I insist
on moving in the wrong direction. I shall
not try here to go into an analysis of
transference and countertransference and
their cross-relationships in such three-
cornered consultations. Further analytic
research is needed into the dynamics of
psychotherapy and supervision in this
area.
I consider the third phase of supervi-
sion to be a period of working-through.
The psychodynamics of the patient's per-
sonality and the technical and emotional
aspects of the therapeutic experience are
discussed and worked out comprehen-
sively. By now the candidate should feel
free and eager to show, and to analyze
and integrate, his own feelings of counter-
transference. This is, then, the truly
analytic phase of supervisory analysis.
The student analyst learns a great deal
when he turns from analytic introspec-
tion to working with patients. He sees
his own problems in a new light. With
his analyst, he may make special use of
such insight. The training analyst, now
more distant from the student, may recog-
nize certain blind spots and reaction pat-
terns of his analysand more clearly than
he did during the regular course of ana-
lytic treatment. The analyst may also talk
to his analysand in an atmosphere rela-
tively free of the usual forms of resist-
ance. The training analyst may utilize in-
formation he has received from other
analysts at meetings of the educational
committee or faculty. He may also now
feel free to use observations of his own
concerning the candidate which he has
made outside of the therapeutic situation.
The process of working-through thus
takes a more realistic turn, and under
favorable circumstances it will be quite
effective. I sometimes refer t<;> this stage
in psychoanalytic training as supervision
uf the candtdate's beginning self-annly~~i:~.
And this self-analysis is a process which
should last the rest of the analyst's life.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.