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Dr. Edward Kronold (Chairman): There are two general areas for discussion here: (1) The psychology of the analytic situation and (2) the way of teaching analysis in supervision.
Dr. Victor Rosen: Would you clarify further the reasons for taking up the Mona Lisa aspect in supervision?
Dr. Isakower: This was intended as an illustration of dealing with the student's analyzing instrument.
Dr. David Beres: Is your point that the visual emergence of the Mona Lisa on the part of the student in turn brought out a visual reaction in the patient? Also, it is not clear that what the patient reacted with at the time was a visual image of the Toulouse-Lautrec or if he reacted with a verbal report of remembering or recalling to his mind a visual image that he had had in the past.
Dr. Isakower: I think that even if the patient says he “recalls” the Lautrec it carries with it the visual image of Lautrec while he mentions it. The same applies to the student analyst. When he says the Mona Lisa came to mind, he too need not experience it as the emergence of a vision. On the other hand, even the mention of Mona Lisa cannot help but make the person see it or visualize it, any person, that is, in possession of a functioning occipital cortex.
Dr. Martin H. Stein: The initial reaction to the student's bringing up the Mona Lisa was at first puzzlement and it appeared at first to be a manifestation of the student going astray. It is noted that the student, in regard to this, had spoken about being anxious. Perhaps the supervisor at first was also anxious. The ending of the story demonstrated, however, that it had a useful purpose. The student respected the
image he had and he presented it to the patient—perhaps not as well as he might have—and the patient responded with further material. Can we postulate the steps by which the thought or image of the painting came to the student's mind? Why did it come to mind at this point? Is the student aware of why? The answer to such questions would be of