This book is a selection of papers written over 25 years of practising psychoanalytic psychotherapy, of training and supervising psychotherapists, psychodynamic counsellors and supervisors. It reflects a preoccupation with the growth and diversification of counselling and psychotherapy, with the imperatives of training, supervision and regulation, and with the significant changes in the profession due to the invention of brief, time-limited, intermittent and recurrent psychotherapy. An overall theme is the conviction that what patients and therapists share is vulnerability, and that the therapist is a 'wounded healer', whose reparative tendency informs his professional choice, his therapeutic empathy and his capacity to bear the rigours of therapeutic work. Thus an unconscious connection between the helper and the helped is the driving force of every therapeutic relationship, for better and for worse. Its responsible management requires thorough training, ongoing supervision and a firm frame in order to contain the powerful forces operating when two strangers meet for the purpose of therapy.

This book is a selection of papers written over 25 years of practising psychoanalytic psychotherapy, of training and supervising psychotherapists, psychodynamic counsellors and supervisors. It reflects a preoccupation with the growth and diversification of counselling and psychotherapy, with the imperatives of training, supervision and regulatio

`This book is thoughtful, scholarly and very well written. The content is well set out in separate sections making it eminently readable. It is solidly based on psychoanalytic theory highlighting the transformational impact of a supervisory process that is embedded in the dyadic relationships formed by the supervised patient - supervisee and the supervisee - supervisor. This book has greatly enriched my understanding of the supervisory process and the organizational life in which it transpires. It will be a richly informative resource for all involved in supervisory work' - Gemma Corbett, Self & Society

Based on the view that supervision is in itself both a developmental and a therapeutic process, Supervising Psychotherapy examines the fundamental knowledge needed to become a skilled and effective supervisor.

Written by a highly experienced team of trainers and supervisors, the book explores the triangular relationship which exists between supervisor, therapist and the absent patient or client. It describes in depth the complex dynamics which characterise this relationship, while avoiding the pitfalls of unconsciously colluding with or controlling the supervisee.

In supervising the practice of others, supervisors must draw not only on their experience as a therapist, but also on a firm understanding of how people learn and of how organisational factors can impinge on therapy and supervision. The book examines the interface between supervision and teaching and between supervision and organisation and offers guidance in relation to:

· unconscious processes in supervision

· the supervisory triangle

· supervising groups

· supervising short term therapy

· ethical practice

· timing and ending of supervision.

For those who are in the process of becoming supervisors and for those who already practising, Supervision in Psychotherapy is an enlightening and thought-provoking read.

Mary Banks, Christine Driver, Gertrud Mander, Edward Martin and John Stewart are all trained supervisors who have been or are currently involved in training others in supervision. All are members of the British Association for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Supervision (BAPPS).

Illustrated throughout with clinical vignettes, this book is a comprehensive guide to psychodynamic brief counselling and psychotherapy. It is ideal for those looking for a practical introduction to the subject.

Following a summary of the roots and development of psychoanalytic theory, psychodynamic models of brief, short-term and time-limited work are described. The author describes their differences and similarities in terms of duration, technique and the contexts for which they were developed. Gertrud Mander then examines the basics of brief therapeutic practice from a psychodynamic perspective, starting with assessment, contracting, structuring and focusing. The active stance of the brief therapist is emphasized, and the importance of beginnings and endings, and of supervision and training, are particularly stressed.