Three Associating: Adventures in Relational Psychoanalytic Supervision

In this episode, Andy is frustratingly blocked by his patient's difficulty in listening and by her incessant talking, both of which reveal parts of her self and mask others. Ironically, Andy himself has to surrender into listening rather than talking and into only having recognised small snippets of his thoughts, if any at all. He becomes aware of the deprivation under his patient's excess...

In this episode, we encounter Rachael's struggle with an avoidant patient who is fearful of closeness. Rachael is conflicted between her desire for the patient to make progress and to stay present to the work and to 'dine in', and her awareness that, for his desire to move forward to emerge, she needs to take a step back and let him continue with 'take away' for a while longer.

In this episode, Andrew finds himself challenging his patient's perception of him as an internet dinosaur, too old to be familiar with youth culture. In engaging this challenge, Andrew finds both a way to connect with his patient, but also a way to collude to avoid an underlying grief which needs to be addressed.

In this episode, Rachael⁠ struggles with exasperation and grief as she writes a court report for a patient who has relapsed. To be both truthful and helpful is no mean feat, and nor is accepting the limits of her responsibility while still grappling with how to move the therapy forward.

In this episode, Andrew⁠ , ⁠Gill⁠ , and  ⁠Rachael⁠ explore the hot topic of neurodiversity. We conclude that whatever the political and ideological controversies, our main focus needs to be on the person in the room.

Misrecognition and the projection of others are a perennial problem, but perhaps more so for those who are queer identified. But whoever is at the receiving end of mistaken identity, the effects are very unpleasant as Gill , Andrew , and Rachael come to know first hand in this episode. www.threeassociating.com

In this episode, Gill , Rachael , and Andrew grapple with feelings of exposure as Rachael becomes aware that her private and professional lives have collided, but the exact nature of this is unknown. www.threeassociating.com

Rachael , Gill , and Andrew work together to understand how the presence of subtle power dynamics, unconsciously enacted in the therapeutic relationship, are signalled by the therapist’s destructive fantasy. www.threeassociating.com

In this episode, Gill , Andrew , and Rachael are confronted with how intense feelings can muddy the waters and produce confusion about which feelings belong to the therapist and which to the patient. www.threeassociating.com

In this episode, Rachael , Andrew , and Gill discuss the proverbial notion that the road to hell is paved with good intentions as Rachael's wish to protect the patient reveals hidden difficulties. www.threeassociating.com

In this episode, Andrew , Rachael and Gill tussle together over ethical and therapeutic issues as they wonder where self help ends and where helping oneself to what belongs to the other begins. www.threeassociating.com

Rachael , Gill , and Andrew struggle hard to resist the all-too-human desire for magical solutions to truly awful problems. www.threeassociating.com

In the first episode of season two, Gill , Andrew and Rachael plunge into the pleasures and perils of toxic masculinity and the allure of trading intimacy and authenticity for the exercise of power. www.threeassociating.com

In this last episode of season one, Gill, Rachael, and Andrew grapple with the challenges of staying awake when it seems that the other person is exaggerating wildly or, even worse, is somewhat out of touch with reality. Faced with the seemingly impossible task of finding a constructive way to express one’s thoughts to the person, it is easy to unconsciously zone out instead. www.threeassociating....

Gill , Andrew , and Rachael wrestle with the thorny issues of rivalry and competition. They show how, ironically, being caught in rivalry can lead one to give away one’s authority, as the focus comes to be placed on competing rather than on occupying one’s own personal power. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Andrew , and Rachael encounter the common problem of when we are drawn in by charisma, fail to set firm boundaries and then experience guilt and anxiety about hurting the other person when we feel our boundaries have been transgressed. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Rachael , and Andrew dive into the heady brew of sex and aggression, showing how these issues can be unconsciously provoked and can then easily lead to shame and overwhelm. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Andrew and Rachael uncover some unexpected disadvantages of friendliness, delving into how affability can cover up an unconscious fear of difference and otherness, and also mask a desire to be mirrored back positively to oneself. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Andrew and Rachael discover how unconscious disapproval can be communicated with ill effect and provoke bullying and verbal intimidation in return, resulting in overwhelm, dissociation, and an inability to think. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Andrew and Rachael come to understand how an unconscious bias towards over-identifying with a person's trauma story inadvertently deprives the person of agency and disallows a more nuanced perception of the person. www.threeassociating.com

Gill , Rachael , and Andrew explore the common problem of feeling conflicted between a wish to be accepting and the desire to be confronting of offensive stances and statements. They come to recognise how understanding one's own unconscious biases contributes to the solution. www.threeassociating.com