Supervision Triangles and the Attempt to Turn a Blind Eye to Them

Supervision as part of a training process is triadic more than dyadic and is based on multiple triangles that can include the supervisor, the student, the academic institution, and the patient as potential vertices (Arlow, 1963; Baudry, 1993; Berman, 2000; Ekstein & Wallerstein, 1958; Gediman & Wolkenfeld, 1980; Teitelbaum, 1998). From the first meeting of the supervisor–student—analogous to the mother–baby relationship—there is a third party present, the academic institution. The third party provides space and security, marking boundaries of time and defining the extent and nature of the relationship. At the same time, the third party may give rise to feelings of exposure, guilt, and shame. In this triangle, one of the parties often withholds information, or two parties share information to which the third party is not privy. I suggest that during the process of supervision, information that has become a secret may become a “blind spot,” infringing on the movement throughout the supervision and on the ability to think freely.