The Making of a Modern Analyst (The Supervisory Process): Discussant's Introduction

Dr. Sternbach, in a most human and unpretentious delivery, presents us with more than fifty years of his development from a refugee struggling as a frightened, insecure, non-English speaking young therapist to a senior statesman in our profession. He presents the concept of supervision as “liberation” and focuses on liberating the tension in the relationship as a precondition to any successful work. An atmosphere of comfort for both parties is essential. I interpret (pardon the experession) some of Dr. Sternbach's early anxiety with his supervisor as a fear of exposure not only to feelings of inadequacy but also to what may have been an unrecognized need for comfort. He stresses the importance of enjoying one's work with fun and humor at times, the pleasure of shared responsibility, and the security of having a supervisor. We certainly can understand this. It is interesting to hear how Dr. Spotnitz and he learned through experience that premature interpretation led to the loss of their supervisees. Dr. Sternbach confirms our ideas that no matter what the theoretical or technical position, the supervisor and the analyst take a creative flexibility or departure from the parameters of treatment—as exemplified by his sojourn with the child to Woolworth's—which can and often does resolve a patient's resistance, He is mindful of the supervisor's primary goal, to resolve the analyst's resistance to successfully resolving the patient's resistance to progressive communication. The case of the “fucking” duel led ultimately to a good result, but it is geneally better to plan an intervention with an idea of its outcome, rather than to respond impulsively to an induced feeling.

In his own inimitable dialogue format, Dr. Marshall vividly traces and brings to life the development of supervisory concepts and practice.