The Informational Value of the Supervisor’s Emotional Experiences†

The emotions experienced by a supervisor—including even his private, ‘subjective’ fantasy experiences and his personal feelings about the supervisee—often provide valuable clarification of processes currently characterizing the relationship between the supervisee and the patient. In addition, these processes are often the very ones which have been causing difficulty in the therapeutic relationship and, because heretofore unrecognized by the supervisee, have not been consciously, verbally reported by him to the supervisor. This thesis is undoubtedly well known to many persons engaged in supervision, and in everyday use by them in this work; but my own experience indicates that it is far from universally recognized, and it has not been presented in the literature, to the best of my knowledge.It would be at least equally valid to express the principle in the following fashion: the processes at work currently in the relationship between patient and therapist are often reflected in the relationship between therapist and supervisor. But it makes for simplicity of presentation to present this material from the viewpoint of the supervisor.