Discussion of John A. Lindon's Article, Supervision by Tape: A New Method of Case Supervision

I cannot have a sound opinion of Dr. Lindon's experiments. As a rule I consider it inappropriate to criticize unless I have tried a method myself or else have been an intimate observer. However, after this libation to the gods of true knowledge, I venture to give my impressions and intuitions.

Tapes and other records of an analytic hour and supervisory hour sometimes are useful for a “micro-” study. The participants or other persons consulted can ponder and speculate. Records provide the time necessary for deeper thought about details, and this can go on for longer and longer periods, with more and more replaying or rereading—perhaps, to misapply Freud's phrase ins Unendliche, into the infinitesimal. This may be profitable incidentally; it strikes me as a right “research” procedure that the analyst, having said or not said something to his analysand, should later account for this positive or negative action at leisure. But this is, after all, the main purpose of any supervision, no matter how the material is presented.

I have doubts as to the propriety of using such a method in ordinary supervision, but here the talent of student analyst and of supervisor would be crucial. The danger of a displacement to trifles obviously exists.

Personally, I feel that any thinking and communicating about supervision is good and is stimulating to colleagues. Dr. Lindon's praiseworthy effort to summarize various views and writings on supervision does not seem directly relevant to the specific experiences that he expounds. The selected summaries and excerpts are too brief to serve as a background for his personal experiences. They might have been used to better advantage in a separate and longer essay. I note important omissions.

I dare say Dr. Lindon, too, does not expect magic from a

machine. It may not do much better than a human intelligence. Perhaps it will provide unexpected advantages in a field totally remote from the initial intention. A study of “supervision” might accidenta