The Seventh Conference of Training Analysts of the International Psychoanalytical Association will be held in San Francisco July 28–29, 1995. With a focus on issues of supervision, it will, like previous training analyst conferences, employ a format of informal groups of ten to fifteen, each to be chaired by a moderator experienced in leading small groups. Participants will have the opportunity to meet colleagues from other countries and to hear their work in detail.
Each group will include colleagues with a wide variety of clinical and supervisory experience, as well as different theoretical orientations. Analysts from the same institute will be placed, wherever possible, in different groups, so that clinical problems may be presented with no fear that supervisees or their patients will be recognized. These conferences are particularly helpful in that most societies in the U.S. provide no opportunity for the discussion of problems in supervision.
At the 1993 conference in Amsterdam, discussion centered around difficulties in separating supervision from therapy. A consistent theme was the difficulty of deciding when countertransference is appropriately dealt with in supervision, and when it should be brought to the candidate's own treatment. Other issues were what to do when the candidate finishes analysis before completing supervision, or when the supervisor believes a training analysis has been inadequate. Participants at Amsterdam expressed enthusiasm for the experience and almost unanimously recommended that the discussion of supervision be continued in San Francisco. This time the supervisor's responsibilities to the supervisee, the analysand, the supervisee's analyst, and the institute will be considered, as will the question of theoretical orientation as it relates to supervision.
The groups will begin with the detailed presentation of a supervisory hour. As the group takes up the issues raised by the presenter and adds issues of its own, the discussion can attain a depth rarely achieved in larger groups with more limited time. Those who plan to attend are encouraged to bring such an hour for discussion. Anyone who would like to do so may contact one of the two co-chairs for North America, Dan H. Buie, Jr. (Fax 617 237–7120) or Arlene Kramer Richards (Fax 212 427–0585).