Self-Disclosure and Vulnerability: Countertransference in Psychoanalytic Treatment and Supervision.

The paper is a review of social worker Herbert S. Strean's book "Controversies on Countertransference." The book is about the countertransferential entanglements that embroil both the therapeutic and the supervisory relationships. Strean proposed throughout this volume that self-disclosure of the countertransference is the key to grid-locked treatments and grid-locked supervisory relationships. The first chapter provides a brief, highly readable introduction to the topic of countertransference and the arguments for self-disclosure. The second chapter describes how the supervisee's defensiveness can expand exponentially through the phenomenon of parallel process. The third chapter takes the discussion a step further by discussing parallel process and the evolution of the supervisory experience. The fourth chapter focuses on actual disclosure of the countertransference and Strean gives many instructive examples. The chapter serves as a good learning tool. The fifth chapter is perfectly placed, since Strean continues the evolution of his subject matter to discuss the added complexities created by the supervisory third. The sixth chapter presents Strean's observations regarding the frequency with which analytic candidates flounder shortly after graduation. The final chapter of this book is really an extensive case study of a man who literally would not reveal his name to Strean until the 217th session. Following on the heels of the previous chapters devoted to the therapeutic and supervisory processes, this case was no doubt intended as an example of what can be achieved.