Developmental Aspects of Psychodynamic Supervision

The tasks of the supervisee are not unlike the developmental tasks of adolescence: professional individuation, emancipation from the authority of teachers and supervisors and solidification of a professional identification within the self representation. These tasks are also analogous to those of the rapprochement child, and the role of the supervisor is analogous to that of the good enough parent of rapprochement and adolescence. In addition, oedipal issues must be resolved within this interpersonal context: renunciation of the wish to be specially chosen and loved over rivals, and of competitive strivings vis-á-vis the supervisor with an identification with aspects of the supervisor. The supervisor must lend herself/himself to this process as well.