Becoming a psychoanalyst: supervision as a central moment of training

Psychoanalytic supervision has not long since become regarded as the most significant moment of training, due to its ‘in the field’ characteristics that distinguish it from both personal analysis and theoretical seminars. The supervisor, in his or her capacity as a theory and clinical expert, aims to stimulate in the student the ability to develop clinical reasoning through his or her own experience in the relationship with the patient in a care context. By understanding and exploring his/her own configurations in more depth, a young analyst can grasp those aspects of the patient which are structured on unconscious determinant factors that initially escape awareness. In order to perform this task, it is first necessary that the analyst who wants to become a supervisor has a clear understanding of the concepts referred to in his/her clinical practice. Moreover, it is essential that he/she solicits the emotions and reflections of the supervisee, not only by proposing his/her own theory or using the techniques that he/she would follow when supervising a case. The Author then lists the purposes that she believes should be pursued in the activity of supervision, concluding that, in order to be truly educational, supervision must transmit to the young clinician a selfreflective method of knowledge, that guides the clinicians to recognize themselves in what they say and do with their patients.