Psychoanalytic Supervision

Psychoanalytic supervision is part of psychoanalytic education, along with theoretical training and training analysis. Psychoanalytic Supervision (PS) consists of discussing the clinical material provided orally or in writing by a psychoanalyst , a psychoanalytically oriented therapist, or psychologist to a supervisor.

A supervisor can be a specialist who has undergone special training or has the appropriate experience, recognized sufficient in a given community.

Supervision can be individual (a supervising psychoanalyst - a supervisor and a supervisor) and group (several supervisors and a supervisor). There is a special form of group supervision - intervention, when several colleagues with supervisory experience are supervised without a leader.

The first supervisory case described in the literature can be considered the work of Z. Freud "Analysis of the case of a five-year-old boy."

The need for supervision was felt from the very beginning of the emergence of psychoanalysis. In the early years, the psychoanalyst of the therapist acted as a supervisor. Since the 1920s, psychoanalysis institutes have been established in a number of countries to conduct professional training for candidates for psychoanalysts. The development of theory and practice has led to an understanding of the need to separate personal psychoanalytic material from patient stories.

Supervision has been singled out as a separate activity. The most recognized is the complete separation of personal analysis and case supervision. An analyst cannot be a supervisor to his analyst at least during the entire analytical work. The candidate for psychoanalysts should discuss (supervise) his practical work with other analysts. This model was first adopted by the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis, led by C. Abraham , and then by most other institutions. S. Ferenczi (Hungary, Budapest) was of a polar opinion, whose ideas of combining the functions of an analyst and a supervisor in one person have a certain influence to this day.

In the works of J. Fleming and T. Benedek “Psychoanalytic supervision: a method of clinical training” (1966), “Formation of a psychoanalyst: a study of psychoanalytic supervision” (edited by R. Wallerstein, 1981), P. Dewald “The process of training psychoanalytic supervision” ( 1987) and several others raise and discuss issues directly related to the theory and practice of supervision. Supervisor training programs have been launched in a number of countries.

Since the 80s of the last century, supervision has been actively explored. The process of supervisory practice, as well as its impact on the work of students in psychoanalysis with their patients; problems of supervisory relations, the influence of institutions and personalities of both participants, and much more.