Noting the relative paucity of literature and formal training in supervision, the authors have written a guide to supervision of psychotherapy and analysis, applied to a wide range of situations. They draw from the experiences of supervision study groups at the Cambridge Hospital (Massachusetts) and at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Beth Israel Hospital, and the Clinical Psychology Program at Mount Auburn Hospital (Cambridge).

In contrast to previous writing on supervision, they intend this book to cover issues that apply to the most naïve trainee beginners in psychiatry, clinical psychology and social work, in the current atmosphere of rushed, superficial interventions, through the supervision of advanced psychoanalytic candidates and young analysts. In contrast to previous authors, they attempt to focus on the process of supervision, not the content of what is being taught. They address their book to the contemporary situation of pluralism in therapy and analysis, as