Family Therapy Supervision as Counter-Induction

Abstract

In this paper, the phenomenon of therapist stuckness is addressed and related to the experience of hypnotic induction. A case example illustrates how efforts were made through the supervision process to counter-induce the therapist. Robotization (Schwartz, Liddle, and Breunlin, 1988) (i.e., supervisee responding to exact requests of the supervision team), was necessary while the therapist was mastering a very complex and difficult skill in the therapy context-that of changing from traditional therapeutic conversation to social conversation. Altering the conversation of therapy resulted in empowering the client to the point that she could "fire the therapist."