EP85 Supervision Panel 03 - Bruno Bettelheim, PhD; Albert Ellis, PhD; Salvador Minuchin, MD; Miriam Polster, PhD
- Average Rating:
- Not yet rated
- Topic Areas:
- Supervision Panels | Psychotherapy | Supervision | Family Therapy | Therapist Development | Group Therapy
- Categories:
- Evolution of Psychotherapy | Evolution of Psychotherapy 1985 | Pioneers in Couples and Family Therapy
- Faculty:
- Bruno Bettelheim | Albert Ellis, PhD | Salvador Minuchin, MD | Miriam Polster
- Course Levels:
- Master Degree or Higher in Health-Related Field
- Duration:
- 59:14
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Original Program Date:
- Dec 13, 1985
- License:
- Never Expires.
Description
Description:
Educational Objectives:
- To compare and contrast clinical and philosophical perspectives of experts.
*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*
Outline:
Supervision Panel Introduction and Initial Question
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Panel features Bruno Bettelheim, Albert Ellis, Salvador Minuchin, and Miriam Polster
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Initial question addresses supervision of inpatient group therapy with high turnover and undertrained nursing staff
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One suggestion: teach nurses a specific model (e.g., RET) and supervise them outside of group sessions
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Emphasis placed on understanding the goals of group therapy and adapting supervision to the supervisee’s needs
Discussion on Supervision Methods
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Mixed views on supervision style: some advocate for dialog-based, tailored supervision; others prefer teaching a superior therapeutic method
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Disagreement arises over whether to prioritize the therapist’s current style or introduce a more effective system
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One panelist notes that the disagreement itself can be illuminating, while another finds it unhelpful
Case Presentation: Family Therapy and Boyfriend Involvement
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Case: 15-year-old girl ran away, became pregnant, had an abortion; mother is emotionally attached to a boyfriend
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Recommendation to work with family subsystems without involving the boyfriend directly
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One perspective prioritizes addressing individual pathology before system-level work
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Mother’s emotional conflict and daughter’s fear of family breakup are central dynamics
Case Presentation: Intergenerational Conflict and Therapist Role
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Case: 25-year-old daughter, mother, and grandmother—conflict over boyfriend and financial dependency
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Suggested intervention: challenge mother’s enmeshment and identify therapist's systemic role
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Proposed boundary-setting strategy: limit phone communication between generations
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Panelists agree on addressing individual issues within broader systemic framing
Case Presentation: Single Parent and Problem Teenager
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Case: single mother struggles with teenage son; therapist unsure how to support without co-parenting
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Recommendation: take a decentralized stance, assuming family has untapped solutions
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Alternative view: teach family how they create distress and how to stop the pattern
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Therapist reports difficulty in emotionally separating from the mother
Case Presentation: Severely Disadvantaged Client
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Case: 26-year-old disfigured Black man with history of trauma and substance abuse seeks companionship and housing
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Suggested focus: clarify client’s true goals and explore self-defeating behaviors
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Panelist recommends small, achievable goals and practical steps for rebuilding life
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Therapist uncertain about where and how to intervene effectively
Case Presentation: Individual vs. Family Therapy
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Case: 50-year-old man with depression and substance abuse, uncertain about staying in marriage
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Therapist unsure whether to proceed with individual or family therapy
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Recommendation: evaluate the man’s emotional independence and the validity of his narrative
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Consensus to treat individual issues first before engaging the family system
Case Presentation: Training and Resident Rotation
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Training issue: frequent rotation of psychiatry residents disrupts patient continuity
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Criticism of training model for creating false hope in patients
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Alternative suggestion: rotate residents through sites where continuity is not essential
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Acknowledgment that rotation offers diversity but sacrifices depth and therapeutic sequence
Case Presentation: Chronic Schizophrenia and Family Systems Intervention
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Case: girl depressed after her brother's schizophrenia diagnosis; family is divided, father resistant to therapy
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Caution expressed about giving specific advice without fuller context
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Recommendation to focus intervention on the girl and possibly the mother
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Case likened to a previous one involving cerebral palsy and family burden dynamics
Credits
Faculty
Bruno Bettelheim Related Seminars and Products
Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born self-educated psychoanalyst who spent the bulk of his academic career from 1944 to 1973, as a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and director of the Orthogenic School for Disturbed Children.[2][3]
He is perhaps best known for his essay The Uses of Enchantment (1976), which applied Freudian psychology to fairy tales and won the 1976 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and the 1977 National Book Award in category Contemporary Thought.[4][5]Bettelheim wrote a number of articles and books on psychology for more than 40 years and had an international reputation on such topics as Sigmund Freud and emotionally disturbed children.
Albert Ellis, PhD Related Seminars and Products
Albert Ellis, PhD, was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He held M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He also founded and was the President of the New York City-based Albert Ellis Institute for decades.
He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and one of the founders of cognitive-behavioral therapies.[2]
Based on a 1982 professional survey of US and Canadian psychologists, he was considered as the second most influential psychotherapist in history (Carl Rogers ranked first in the survey; Sigmund Freud was ranked third).[3][4] Psychology Today noted, "No individual—not even Freud himself—has had a greater impact on modern psychotherapy."[5]
Salvador Minuchin, MD Related Seminars and Products
Salvador Minuchin, MD, developed Structural Family Therapy, which addresses problems within a family by charting the relationships between family members, or between subsets of family. He was Director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Although it was minimally staffed when he began, under his tutelage the Clinic grew to become one of the most modeled and respected child guidance facilities in the world. In 1981, Minuchin began his own family therapy center in New York. After his retirement in 1996, the center was renamed the Minuchin Center. Dr. Minuchin is the author of many notable books, including many classics. His latest is Mastering Family Therapy: Journeys of Growth and Transformation. In 2007, a survey of 2,600 practitioners named Minuchin as one of the ten most influential therapists of the past quarter-century.
Miriam Polster Related Seminars and Products
Miriam Polster, Ph.D, is co-director of the Gestalt Training Center in San Diego, and Assistant Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego. Along with her husband, Erving Polster, she is co-author of a book on Gestalt therapy. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in 1967.