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THIS PARER WILL OFFER a line of reasoning that indicates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the ideal supervisory experience takes place within the framework of a suitable form of therapy. Evidence will be garnered from studies of the evolution of the emotion processing mind —its architecture and adaptive modes of functioning—and from a new and empowered form of therapy called self-processing therapy(Langs, in press b) to support this position. While there have been prior instances of efforts to combine supervision with psychotherapy (a term that will be used throughout the paper to refer to both psychoanalysis and dynamic forms of psychotherapy), the present approach is grounded in a newly developed line of thought and has its own rationale; it should be distinguished from these earlier ventures which are not supported by ideas offered here.
The human psyche has a specialized division termed the emotion processing mind whose primary function is to adapt to emotionally charged stimuli or triggers(Langs, 1992 a), (1992 c). As an adaptive organ, this part of the mind has evolved primarily to deal with emotionally charged environmental impingements, a term that includes other individuals as well as all affecting physical and social elements. And as is true of all organisms, the emotion processing mind functions and copes with incoming inputs within a given set of conditions—the context or framework for its operations (Langs, 1992a), (in press c), (in press d).
Studies of the evolution of the human (hominid) species have shown convincingly that the driving forces of adaptation arise from environmental impingements—a realistic set of conditions and a series of specific events or triggers that influence natural