In this paper material is presented from supervision groups run for nurses and other mental health professionals. The patients presented to the group all came from different mental health settings and suffered from psychotic states of mind. In this paper I will argue that the psychodynamic model can help nurses and other front-line mental health professionals in their understanding of psychotic process. Nursing staff, in particular, are with their patients over long periods of time and see them in different settings. The psychodynamic model can be helpful in giving mental health professionals a language for describing their experiences of, and interaction with, their patients. The psychodynamic model can also provide a dynamic picture of the patient's problems over time. This type of assessment and thinking, which includes an understanding of the dynamic process involved in psychosis, can then stand alongside the medical model.