Experience as a Neuropsychoanalytic Psychotherapy Consultant/Supervisor ( Part II )

The format for consultation/supervision  I  wrote of previously is  the approach I take  with all my students/clinicians--one week of teaching and one week of consultation/supervision over the duration of their experience. So instead of writing about how the consultation/supervision of all students is different and how I adjust the process to each one's particular needs, etc., I am going to write about what their processes have in common.

Let me start with the books I use to help me further learn how to consult/supervise. The first one is Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (1984), edited by Leopold Caligor, Philip Bromberg, and James Meltzer. The second book is Learning Process in Psychoanalytic Supervision: Complexities and Challenges (1987) by Paul DeWald. The third text was written in 1995 by Daniel Jacobs, Paul David, and Donald Jay Meyer. It is  titled, The Supervisory Encounter. The fourth supervision book is  Glen Gabbard's Long Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy ( the last chapter on Supervision.) The final text I studied is  entitled, The Supervisory Relationship, written in 2001 by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea and Joan E. Sarnat............ In addition to these books I have read various articles and papers on  supervision that come my way through journals, etc. One of those is  by Otto Kernberg, published in 2010, Psychoanalytic Supervision: The Supervisor's Task.  For neuropsychoanalytic supervision in particular, I use my Training Manual, An Introduction to Neuropsychoanalytic Psychotherapy, which includes a section  on how to present case material. 

All of theses sources are  helpful, but even more helpful is hearing cases presented at neuropsychoanalytic conferences, and further hearing how the analysts/therapists would consult/supervise the person presenting the material. These are not formal ongoing supervision sessions, but I find them very helpful in seeing how the analysts/therapists doing the supervising  listen, formulate, and comment on the case material......... As enriching as all of these readings and experiences have been in doing consultation/supervision, they do not specifically address how to teach neuropsychoanalytic theory, practice, and technique to students. For this task I also attend conferences and read articles on psychoanalytic teaching. Over time I have developed a notebook with my charts, notes, diagrams, etc., that helped me teach my students about theory and practice ( This notebook eventually became my Training Manual mentioned above).

Of course the main way a student learns how to do neuropsychoanalytic psychotherapy is by "actually doing it." Neuropsychoanalytic therapy  training is tripartite. It consists of didactic courses, supervision, and your own personal or training psychotherapy. Although I have  not required  personal psychotherapy for my students/clinicians, I have strongly encouraged  it. But in the end it is the fourth element of training that teaches the students/clinicians  the most, and that is their experience with their patients in the room, week after week, in neuropsychoanalytic treatment. I will say more about that next time.