ABSTRACT
The author became interested in the theory and practice of supervision when he noticed that mental health professionals were emerging from graduate school with inadequate preparation for psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Theory and technique courses are important, but the most important thing is to get in to the room with the patient and do the work over time. To do that well the trainee psychotherapist requires clinical supervision. Much of what he describes of the role of the supervisor applies whether the supervision occurs in a private setting or in an institution. There is some disagreement as to how to work with this inevitable resonance. The multiple interactional focus is preferable, and will include attention to institutional influences and constraints on the therapist's work and on the supervisory process. The good supervisor considers this, not as evidence of neurotic conflict or pathology (which it may partly be) but as a sign of difficulty learning within this supervisory context.
