Intensive Supervision of Psychotherapy with Videotape Recording

A ‘One-shot’ Group Video-tape Technique

“…The Gruenberg, Liston, and Wayne (1969) review gave some of the history of this kind of supervisory technique. There is general agreement as to its flexibility, viability, capacity to lend itself to a direct and detailed view of behaviour, the minimization of distortion, based on less partial observations and a consequent accretion of accuracy.…”

“…Kagan and Krathwohl (1967), utilizing a technique which they called Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR), demonstrated the considerable flexibility of the video‐tape method in a variety of different situations. Gruenberg, Liston, and Wayne (1969) have also reviewed its use. As far as we are aware, a ‘one‐shot’ group video‐tape technique has not yet been described in the literature.…”

Process Notes, Audio, and Videotape:

“…Muslin (1968) compared recordings of supervisory sessions which utilized process notes with recordings of the therapy itself and found gross distortions and deletions of information at a variety of levels. The video literature has repeatedly mentioned these problems in process note reporting (Reivich and Geertsma, 1969;Chodoff, 1972;Gruenberg, Liston, and Wayne, 1969). Clearly, process notes are not best utilized for a moment to moment analysis of what the patient actually said and how the therapist responded.…”

“…Because both teacher and student orient their discussions to recordings of therapy, the use of observational media can create a somewhat more didactic and collegial atmosphere in training than is the case with process notes (Reivich and Geerstma, 1969;Gruenberg, Liston, and Wayne, 1969).…”

“…The traditionalists prefer process notes because the student's ways of thinking and problems in learning become readily apparent (Ekstein and Wallerstein, 1972). Those advocating teaching from the material of a therapy session favor audio or video recordings because the data is more directly available for discussion (Chodoff, 1972;Gruenberg, Liston, and Wayne, 1969). The question is not which mode is best but rather which is most useful given specific educational objectives.…”