The aim of this article is to point out the possibility of the appearance of fear of helplessness during supervision as well as the consequences of its presence. Although many supervisees hope the supervision will help them to overcome their sense of helplessness, this may not always be possible (and it does not always make sense). In such scenarios, both the supervisor and the supervisee need to decide whether to accept the given status quo or to reject it. The second option seems to be very tempting for both parties of supervision and may exert a strong influence on its further course of action.
The thesis is mainly focused on two destructive ways of overcoming the fear of helplessness applied by supervisor and supervisee: the idealization of the supervisor and power struggle. I hope the description of those two ways will alert supervisors and therapists and warn them against the destructive consequences of such a choice. The clinical illustration shows how those destructive ways develop in supervision and reveals the fact that discussing them may reinstate the constructiveness of supervision.
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