ABSTRACT
As illustrated in the case study reflections, the group seemed pulled towards a kind of analysing of the patient, which, intellectually fascinating as it might have been to pursue, was taking us away from the therapeutic relationship. Relational psychoanalysis emerged in the 1980s as an attempt to integrate the American interpersonal psychoanalysis’s emphasis on the interpersonal interactions in the therapeutic relationship with British object relations theories about the psychological importance of internalised relationships with other people. A further strand in psychological thinking is the use of relational supervision in groups. The supervisor has to take account of the stage of development of the supervisee in relation to the use of negotiation and the use of her authority. Michael Balint, who later came to London, was able to value the idea of mutuality, but was also able to recognise the asymmetry in both therapy and supervision, which was to become an important part of contemporary understanding of supervisory effectiveness.
