The Use of Video in Psychotherapy Supervision

This article provides a rationale for the increased use of video recording psychotherapy sessions in clinical supervision and training, including psychodynamic and psychoanalytic training. Social and cognitive psychology research on memory shows that it is limited in a number of ways and, because of this, supervision that solely depends on second-hand reporting of session events in supervision can be equally limited. Additionally, second-hand reporting and audiotapes of session material are often not able to adequately shed light on the nonverbal behaviour exhibited by the patient and therapist. Video recording allows a supervisor to view the session material as it happened during the session so as to provide more effective supervision and psychotherapy training. Examples are given from face-to-face once-weekly work, in a training clinic which uses non-mandatory video recording. Concerns about confidentiality and ethics are discussed, along with potential objections to video recording.