Abstract
The concept of alliance in psychotherapy supervision is now a half century old. But over the course of its first 50 years, how has the supervisory alliance come to generally be viewed by supervision scholars and practitioners? and What is its specific place now within different visions of supervision? In this paper, I would like to consider those two questions by: (a) describing the two enduring perspectives on the supervisory alliance that have dominated and continue to dominate the supervisory scene; and (b) examining the ways in which the alliance appears to currently be conceptualized and implemented across several distinct views of supervision. Each view of supervision is also presented as containing and actuating its own message and meaning about the role of alliance in supervision, and those messages and meanings are accordingly identified. The supervisory alliance appears to now be widely regarded as being a transtheoretical common factor that binds by means of: (a) bond/rapport; (b) supervision goals; and (c) supervision tasks. Much like the therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy, the supervisory alliance has increasingly come to be seen as the very heart and soul of supervision itself and may indeed be the quintessential integrative variable in psychotherapy supervision.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bernard, J. M. (1997). The discrimination model. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 310–327). New York: Wiley.
Bernard, J. M., & Goodyear, R. K. (2014). Fundamentals of clinical supervision (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Merrill.
Binder, J. L., & Strupp, H. H. (1997). Supervision of psychodynamic therapies. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 44–62). New York: Wiley.
Bordin, E. S. (1979). The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy, 16, 252–260.
Bordin, E. S. (1983). A working alliance model of supervision. The Counseling Psychologist, 11, 35–42.
Castonguay, L. G., Constantine, M. J., McAleavey, A. A., & Goldfried, M. R. (2010). The therapeutic alliance in cognitive-behavioral therapy. In J. C. Muran & J. P. Barber (Eds.), The therapeutic alliance: An evidence-based guide to practice (pp. 150–171). New York: Guilford.
Dewald, P. A. (1997). The process of supervision in psychoanalysis. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 31–43). New York: Wiley.
Falender, C. A., & Shafranske, E. (2004). Clinical supervision: A competency-based approach. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Farber, E. W. (2010). Humanistic-existential psychotherapy competencies and the supervisory process. Psychotherapy, 47, 28–34.
Farber, E. W. (2012). Supervising humanistic-existential psychotherapy in the 21st century: Pressing needs, impressing possibilities. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 173–182.
Fleming, J., & Benedek, T. F. (1964). Supervision. A method of teaching psychoanalysis. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 33, 71–96.
Fleming, J., & Benedek, T. F. (1966). Psychoanalytic supervision. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Frawley-O’Dea, M. G., & Sarnat, J. E. (2001). The supervisory relationship: A contemporary psychodynamic approach. New York: Guilford Press.
Freud, S. (1913/1959). Further recommendations in the technique of psycho-analysis. Collected papers (Vol. 2, pp. 342-365). London: Hogarth Press.
Gilbert, M. C., & Evans, K. (2000). Psychotherapy supervision: An integrative relational approach. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Gill, S. (Ed.). (2001). The supervisory alliance: Facilitating the psychotherapist’s learning experience. Northvale: Aronson.
Greenson, R. R. (1965). The working alliance and the transference neurosis. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 34, 155–181.
Greenson, R. R. (1967). The technique and practice of psychoanalysis (Vol. 1). New York: International Universities Press.
Hatcher, R. (2010). Alliance theory and measurement. In J. C. Muran & J. P. Barber (Eds.), The therapeutic alliance: An evidence-based guide to practice (pp. 7–28). New York: Guilford.
Hawkins, P., & Shohet, R. (2012). Supervision in the helping professions: An individual, group and organizational approach (4th ed.). Berkshire: Open University Press.
Hill, C. E., & Knox, S. (2013). Training and supervision in psychotherapy. In M. J. Lambert (Ed.), Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (6th ed., pp. 775–811). Hoboken: Wiley.
Holloway, E. L. (1995). Clinical supervision: A systems approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Holloway, E. L. (1997). Structures for the analysis and teaching of supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 249–276). New York: Wiley.
Holloway, E. L. (in press). Social process models of supervision. In C. E. Watkins, Jr., & D. Milne (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell international handbook of clinical supervision. Chichester: Wiley.
Horvath, A. O. (2001). The alliance. Psychotherapy, 38, 365–372.
Hyman, M. (2008). Psychoanalytic supervision. In A. K. Hess, K. D. Hess & T. H. Hess (Eds.), Psychotherapy supervision: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed., pp. 97–113). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Jacobs, D., David, P., & Meyer, D. J. (1995). The supervisory encounter: A guide for teachers of psychodynamic psychotherapy and analysis. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ladany, N., & Inman, A. G. (2012). Training and supervision. In E. Altmaier & J. C. Hansen (Eds.), Oxford handbook of counseling psychology (pp. 179–207). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lambert, M. J. (Ed.). (2013). Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (6th ed.). Hoboken: Wiley.
Liese, B. S., & Beck, J. S. (1997). Cognitive therapy supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 114–133). New York: Wiley.
Menninger, K. A. (1958). Theory of psychoanalytic technique. New York: Basic Books.
Muran, J. C., & Barber, J. P. (2010). An introduction: Establishing the context and rationale. In J. C. Muran & J. P. Barber (Eds.), The therapeutic alliance: An evidence-based guide to practice (pp. 1–6). New York: Guilford.
Norcross, J. C., & Beutler, L. E. (1998). Advances and possibilities in supervising eclectic psychotherapy. The Clinical Supervisor, 17(1), 135–147.
Norcross, J. C., & Halgin, R. P. (1997). Integrative approaches to psychotherapy supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 203–222). New York: Wiley.
Norcross, J. C., & Halgin, R. P. (2005). Training in psychotherapy integration. In J. C. Norcross & M. R. Golfried (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration (2nd ed., pp. 439–458). New York: Oxford University Press.
Patterson, C. H. (1997). Client-centered supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 134–146). New York: Wiley.
Reiser, R., & Milne, D. (2012). Supervising cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy in the 21st century: Pressing needs, impressing possibilities. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 161–171.
Rice, L. N. (1980). A client-centered approach to the supervision of psychotherapy. In A. K. Hess (Ed.), Psychotherapy supervision: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 136–147). New York: Wiley.
Rigazio-DiGilio, S. A. (in press). Expanding the focus of supervision: Common themes across integrative models. In T. Todd and C. Storm (Eds.), The complete systemic supervisor: Context, philosophy, and methods (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Wiley.
Rigazio-DiGilio, S. A., Daniels, T. G., & Ivey, A. E. (1997). Systemic Cognitive-Developmental Supervision: A developmental-integrative approach to psychotherapy supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 223–249). New York: Wiley.
Rock, M. H. (1997). Effective supervision. In M. H. Rock (Ed.), Psychodynamic supervision (pp. 107–132). Northvale: Aronson.
Sarnat, J. (2010). Key competencies of the psychodynamic psychotherapist and how to teach them in supervision. Psychotherapy, 47, 20–27.
Sarnat, J. (2012). Supervising psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the 21st century: Pressing needs, impressing possibilities. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 151–160.
Scaturo, D. J. (2012). Supervising integrative psychotherapy in the 21st Century: Pressing needs, impressing possibilities. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 183–192.
Sterba, R. (1934). The fate of the ego in analytic therapy. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 15, 117–126.
Stoltenberg, C. D., Bailey, K. C., Cruzan, C. B., Hart, J. T., & Ukuku, U. (in press). The integrated developmental model of supervision. In C. E. Watkins, Jr., & D. Milne (Eds.), Wiley-Blackwell international handbook of clinical supervision. Chichester: Wiley.
Stoltenberg, C. D., & McNeill, B. W. (1997). Clinical supervision from a developmental perspective: Research and practice. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 184–202). New York: Wiley.
Stoltenberg, C. D., & McNeill, B. W. (2010). IDM supervision: An integrated developmental model for supervising counselors and therapists (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Thomas, J. T. (2010). Ethical and legal issues in supervision and consultation. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2011). Toward a tripartite vision of supervision for psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapies: Alliance, transference-countertransference configuration, and real relationship. The Psychoanalytic Review, 98, 557–590.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2012a). Fortification strategies for supervisory relationship enhancement. The Psychotherapy Bulletin, 47, 46–50, 70–73.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2012b). Psychotherapy supervision in the new millennium: Competency- based, evidence-based, particularized, and energized. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 42, 193–203.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2013a). The contemporary practice of effective psychoanalytic supervision. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30, 300–328.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2013b). The learning alliance in psychoanalytic supervision: A fifty-year retrospective and prospective. Psychoanalytic Psychology. doi:10.1037/90034039.
Watkins, C. E., Jr. (2013c). The supervisory alliance: A half century of theory, practice, and research in critical perspective. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 67, 340–365.
Watkins, C. E, Jr. (2013d). What matters in psychotherapy supervision? Some crucial features of international import. International Journal of Psychotherapy, 17, 63–73.
Watkins, C. E, Jr, & Scaturo, D. J. (2013). Toward an integrative, learning-based model of psychotherapy supervision: Supervisory alliance, educational interventions, and supervisee learning/relearning. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 23, 75–95.
Wolfe, B. E., & Goldfried, M. R. (1988). Research on psychotherapy integration: Recommendations and conclusions from an NIMH workshop. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 448–451.
Woods, P. J., & Ellis, A. E. (1997). Supervision in Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. In C. E. Watkins Jr (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 101–113). New York: Wiley.
Zetzel, E. R. (1956). Current concepts of transference. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 37, 369–376.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watkins, C.E. The Supervisory Alliance as Quintessential Integrative Variable. J Contemp Psychother 44, 151–161 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-013-9252-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-013-9252-x