The supervisory field and projective identification1

Taking as their starting point the Bar anger and Baranger model of the ‘psychoanalytic field’, the authors extend the notion of intersubjectivity in the analytic relationship to the supervision process. They use a practical example of a supervision to show the development of what they term the ‘supervisory field’, formed from the superimposition of the two fields of analyst-patient and supervisor-supervisee. They emphasize the interplay of projective identifications with objects emanating from the inner world of the patient that are relived in the analytic relationship and transposed to the supervisory field. They believe that the concept of the ‘supervisory field’ contributes to a deeper understanding of the unconscious processes occurring in the mind of analysand, supervisee and supervisor during supervision, particularly regarding the identification, comprehension and resolution of persistent disturbances in the supervisory process.