Supervision in Transactional Analysis – Part 6
This post is a continuation of Marco Mazzetti’s article on ‘Supervision in Transactional Analysis’. If you’re just joining us, you might want to start at Part One.
Make Sure that Trainee and Client Are Both Adequately Protected
Paying attention to the Hippocratic oath primum non nocere (above all do no harm)—is one aspect of supervision. Although one must always abide by this oath, one must be especially careful with supervisees who are just beginning their training. As was pointed out with regard to identifying key issues, new trainees may discount at a high level and thereby underestimate the dangers for their clients.
Protection of trainees is also essential in this beginning stage. Enthusiasm (which can, at times, be even euphoric) linked to their new professional activity, together with an as yet incomplete knowledge of oneself and one’s limits, may induce trainees to take on commitments that exceed their abilities or to take on too many clients or clients with problems that are too difficult for their abilities. It is up to the supervisor to be on the alert and if necessary to confront trainees about such potential difficulties.
In the intermediate stage of training, such risks tend to decrease. However, as the trainee’s professional engagements increase, aspects that had remained hidden may now emerge, such as unresolved script issues that the therapist may transfer to clients, thus bringing about what English (1969) calls “episcript.”
Fortunately, severe cases, such as those described by English, are infrequent, but instances in which less severe forms of script elements are “passed on” to the client by the therapist may be common. For example, I recall a trainee who had problems with her husband. When her marriage crises were particularly difficult, her clients also brought up issues related to dissatisfaction with their partners. Paying attention to episcript in the intermediate stage of training is a way of protecting clients and trainees, whose awareness of unresolved personal issues is thus increased.
In the advanced stage of training, the risks are greatly reduced as a result of both trainees’ increased experience and by the efficacy of their previous training. It is, nevertheless, necessary to remain alert, paying attention particularly to the subtle ways in which the episcript manifests itself. This is especially true in the case of sporadic supervision with occasional trainees who may not have been given attention on these aspects during their training.
