Self and intersubjectivity in the supervisory process

The process of supervision is one in which the supervisor's listening ability, acceptance, and articulation of the mutual interactions of patient, supervise, and supervisor are used to differentiate motivational needs that are activated in the course of analysis and supervision. Conflict usually arises due to lack of empathic attunement and to absence of congruent understanding of the different motivations. The author shows how acknowledgment of differing motivations and of the failure to empathically recognize them closes the gap between patient's, supervisee's, and supervisor's subjective feelings of being misunderstood, and confirms the value of each human encounter.