Supervision in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Book excerpt: Supervision in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy demonstrates why supervision is an essential component of any psychoanalytic or therapeutic work. Drawing on Winnicott and rich clinical material, and featuring work with Patrick Casement, this book provides new guidance on psychodynamic supervision and explores how its skilful use can have a significant effect on the outcome of such work, enabling the practitioner to rethink their theoretical approach, and thereby view issues differently in the clinical setting. Built around the case study of a challenging but successful long term individual therapy, Supervision in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy examines how clinicians can become ‘stuck’ in their work with certain patients, struggling to find a way to get through to them. Diana Shmukler brings together a fascinating combination of various perspectives, detailing the patient’s own words, the therapists’ views and reflections and the effect of a brief introduction to Art Therapy, whilst underlining the power and impact, both theoretically and practically, of using a different approach in supervision. Shmukler superbly integrates theory and practice, underlining the validity of a two-person psychology and the therapeutic relationship, whilst also illustrating the centrality of both participant’s commitment to, and belief in, the process of therapy. Importantly, the book provides a clinical example in which the subjectivities of all the participants are shown to be clearly central to the work. Shmukler underlines the significance of supervision to complex cases, even that of a highly experienced therapist. Supervision in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, students and trainees in integrative psychotherapy, counsellors and psychiatrists, as well as patients seeking help for deep seated issues.