Countertransference Resistances in the Supervisory Situation
RICHARD B. LOWER M.D.1
1 Attending Physician, Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
In his attempts to avoid teaching problems and diagnose learning problems in the supervisory situation, the supervisor must strive to be aware of the effects of his own unconscious attitudes on the learning alliance. The author discusses some countertransference responses occurring in supervision that derive from: 1) general personality characteristics of the supervisor, 2) conflicts within the supervisor that are reactivated by the supervisory situations, 3) transference reactions to the individual therapist, and 4) counterreactions to the therapist's transference to the supervisor.
