Epilogue: Never Ever Stop Learning More About Supervision

During the last century, there has been a revolution in the canons of science that began with the Enlightenment that promised the laws of the universe could be understood with objectivity and rationality; that reality was static, concrete, and could be reached, studied, and validated to something far more relative where the objective and subjective virtually merge while reality is continually developing and evolving.

Objectivity and subjectivity comprise the infrastructure of psychoanalysis; both perspectives are always present. They are separated only in psychoanalytic theories and when these theories are awkwardly applied to the clinical and the teaching situations. An example of this is the theoretical approach of neutrality and the objective stance of the analyst to free associations, which has created conservable confusion and misunderstanding while clinically creating needless suffering.

This entire issue is devoted to filling an enormous gap in the understanding and teaching of supervision, which has been encumbered by old simplistic ideas of supervision: If you understand analysis, you can supervise. Each article has contributed to illuminating the needed ideas and approaches to promulgate more contemporary psychoanalytic ideas and techniques.

In his discussion, Cláudio Laks Eizirik (this issue) wrote “As in so many fields of human activity, there are a few persons who embrace an idea, a cause, an ideology, a mission, and dedicate the best of their efforts to bring more light, or effectiveness to this cause; international psychoanalysis owes to Imre [Szecsödy] and his work a more clear objective and research-oriented view on the fascinating activity that is psychoanalytic supervision” (p. 642). The quotation conveys the essence of this issue that is embodied in its title, “Never Ever Stop Learning More About Supervision.”

Melvin Bornstein, M.D.

Issue Editor