The ingredients of supervisor failure.

Trainees all too often learn more about how not to conduct supervision than how to conduct supervision effectively. The purpose of this article is to present a conceptualization of the theoretical, empirical, and practical elements of supervisor failures. Specifically, the article attends to the following behaviors that may lead to supervisor failure: (a) denigrate the supervisory relationship; (b) demonstrate multicultural incompetence; (c) become an unethical supermodel; (d) use evaluation instruments that could not pass for an undergraduate thesis; (e) teach your trainee how to diagnose narcissism by example; (f) apply psychotherapy models in supervision as if there is a theoretical or empirical basis; (g) infantalize your trainee; (h) collude with your trainee; (i) make your trainee your surrogate psychotherapist; and (j) go on a date with your trainee. Recommendations for increasing supervisor success and limiting supervisor failure are provided.

Compassion in psychotherapy: the perspective of therapists nominated as compassionate.

Fourteen therapists nominated by peers as compassionate defined compassion in psychotherapy as connecting with the client's suffering and promoting change through action. They indicated that compassion was broader and deeper than empathy, helps clients feel understood, and relieves symptoms. Although indicating that compassion was innate, therapists felt it could be further awakened. Factors facilitating compassion in therapy were therapists feeling clients' suffering, understanding client dynamics, identifying with and liking clients, client involvement, and a good therapy relationship. Hindering factors included clients being resistant, being aggressive, having serious pathology, or violating boundaries; therapists having interfering personal issues, feeling incompetent, or having negative reactions to or not liking clients; and a poor therapy relationship. A theory regarding compassion in psychotherapy is proposed.

Does psychotherapy training matter? Maybe not.

Four articles address aspects of psychotherapy training and the ways in which training can enhance psychotherapist development. In this article, the author reviews the suppositions and contentions made by these authors, identifies common themes, offers critical comment, and provides perspectives, albeit personally biased, on these articles. In addition, propositions regarding the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of psychotherapy training are offered as well as future directions in examining the adequacy of psychotherapy training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Interpersonal contact experiences with gay men: a qualitative investigation of "fag hags" and gay-supportive heterosexual men.

The purpose of this investigation was to understand how "fag hags" and gay-supportive heterosexual men (GSHM) describe the nature and quality of their interpersonal contact experiences with gay men. Eight archival interviews were analyzed using the methodologies outlined in Hill, Thompson, and Williams (1997); i.e., consensual qualitative research. The results yielded suggest that the nature of contact experiences relates to direct contact with gay men in institutional or social settings or via indirect, formative experiences. The possible roles that contact plays in attitudes formation include: (1) normalizing homosexuality, (2) challenging previously held myths and stereotypes, and (3) increasing a person's likelihood of having contact experiences with gay men and developing gay-supportive attitudes. Participants described the quality of the contact as taking place in the context of a friendship that developed between them and a gay male that strengthened after the gay friend came out. Furthermore, the impact of these contact experiences did not change fag hags' sense of morality, but "improved" their attitudes toward gay men. The results from this study have broader social implications in that they contribute to the much-needed discourse, from a qualitative perspective, on the ways in which people form gay-supportive attitudes. Future research should focus on describing the transformational nature of contact between gay men and heterosexuals in order to uncover any processes or stages that heterosexuals go through in developing gay-supportive attitudes.

Psychotherapy supervision: What lies beneath.

This article presents a discussion of the critical incidents involved in the author's development as a psychotherapy researcher with the aim of sharing his biases and expectations. The author then addresses how his research program attempts to answer 4 questions about psychotherapy supervision: If nothing else, what should a supervisor do? What are some of the worst things a supervisor can do? What secrets do supervisors and trainees keep from one another? What about sex? The article concludes with a series of propositions for psychotherapy supervision research.

Supervisor self-disclosure: balancing the uncontrollable narcissist with the indomitable altruist.

The purpose of this article is to provide supervisors with a framework to determine the effectiveness of self-disclosure in supervision. We posit how self-disclosures can be both memorable to the trainee and facilitative of supervision process and outcome, specifically the supervisory working alliance, trainee disclosure, and trainee edification. Case examples based on the literature and our own personal experiences are offered to illustrate the models' applicability.

Therapist use of silence in therapy: a survey.

Eighty-one therapists responded to a mailed survey about their use of silence during a specific event in therapy and about their general attitudes about using silence in therapy. For the specific event, therapists used silence primarily to facilitate reflection, encourage responsibility, facilitate expression of feelings, not interrupt session flow, and convey empathy. During silence, therapists observed the client, thought about the therapy, and conveyed interest. In general, therapists indicated that they would use silence with clients who were actively problem solving, but they would not use silence with very disturbed clients. Therapists learned about using silence mostly through clinical experience.

The factor structure underlying three self-report multicultural counseling competence scales.

This study examined the extent to which 3 self-report multicultural scales were measuring the predominant 3-factor conceptualization of multicultural counseling competence as consisting of multicultural attitudes/beliefs, knowledge, and skills. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the 3-factor model was not fully supported. An exploratory factor analysis identified a 2-factor structure (i.e., self-perceived multicultural counseling skills and multicultural counseling attitudes/beliefs) underlying these instruments. Implications of the findings for clinical practice, training, and research are discussed.