Listening, learning, and development in psychoanalytic supervision: A self psychology perspective.

Abstract

In this article, I would like to consider the matter of development in psychoanalytic supervision and how supervisees learn and grow across supervisory space. Although long considered fundamentally developmental in nature, the process of psychoanalytic supervision has not been specifically examined and explicated from a developmental learning perspective. I propose here some ways in which a developmental learning view could complement a psychoanalytic view of supervision. Blending therapist/supervisee developmental conceptualization (e.g., Ronnestad & Skovholt, 2013; Skovholt, 2012; Stoltenberg & McNeill, 2010) with a self psychology focus on the therapist self, I take up 3 issues: (a) a vision of learning in supervision; (b) the evolving sense of practice self during the supervisory process; and (c) how subject-centered and other-centered listening perspectives contribute developmentally to the supervision experience. My perspective is informed by and grounded in the foundational assumption that: Psychoanalytic supervision is a developmentally anchored educational experience in which the supervisory relationship serves as the crucible of supervisee change.

Negative Capability, Heuristics and Supervision

“…Sometimes, these clinical challenges overwhelm and confuse the supervisees and they have difficulty containing and responding empathically to their patients’ transferential communications and emotional demands (Maldonado, ). Notwithstanding their efforts to resonate with their patients’ mental states and to draw from their clinical and theoretical knowledge, therapists often end up feeling insecure and self‐doubting as clinicians (Watkins, ). These overwhelming experiences make them wish to strengthen their clinical capacities and to grow as therapists in a safe supervisory space with well defined boundaries.…”

“…Many supervisors and supervisees would probably agree that clinical knowledge can be internalized by supervisees only in a secure supervisory space, where they are free to play with ideas and fantasies and to experiment with their skills without feeling a threat to their self‐esteem. Constructing such a creative and flexible potential space in supervision enables supervisees to experience temporarily regressive states, revealing their own and their patients’ unconscious personal and relational patterns and schemas (Watkins, ).…”

And the Winner is… Awards for the Integration of Science and Practice in Psychology

“…Watkins has published a tremendous amount of work on clinical supervision, confronting issues about the supervisory relationship , the alliance needed for effective supervision , and the need for supervisor humility . His work has provided a comprehensive framework for effective supervision Watkins et al 2015;Watkins and Scaturo 2013) promoting the development of the trainee's professional identity (Watkins 2016). Additional articles (e.g., Watkins , 2012 provide valuable insights into the mind and strategies of the supervisor.…”

What is the right time for supportive versus expressive interventions in supervision? An illustration based on a clinical mistake.

“…Research suggests that one of the main difficulties supervisees have with their supervisors, which harms their ability to use supervision successfully, is that the supervisors do not take responsibility for their part in a conflict (Nelson & Friedlander, 2001). It has been argued that the supervisor's supportive act of initiating measures to repair, through empathic recognition of the injury of the therapist, contributes actively to the development of the therapist (Watkins, 2016).…”