# Parallel process

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Phenomenon noted in clinical supervision  of therapy

For other uses, see [Parallel process (disambiguation)](/source/Parallel_process_(disambiguation)).

**Parallel process** is a phenomenon noted in [clinical supervision](/source/Clinical_supervision) by therapist and supervisor, whereby the therapist recreates, or parallels, the client's problems by way of relating to the supervisor. The client's [transference](/source/Transference) and the therapist's [countertransference](/source/Countertransference) thus re-appear in the mirror of the therapist/supervisor relationship.

## Origins and nature

Attention to parallel process first emerged in the nineteen-fifties. The process was termed reflection by [Harold Searles](/source/Harold_Searles) in 1955,[1] and two years later T. Hora (1957) first used the actual term parallel process –emphasising that it was rooted in an unconscious identification with the client/patient which could extend to tone of voice and behaviour.[2] The supervisor thus enacts the central problem of the therapy in the supervision, potentially opening up a process of containment and solution, first by the supervisor and then by the therapist.[3]

Alternatively, the supervisor's own countertransference may be activated in the parallel process, to be reflected in turn between supervisor and consultant, or back into the original patient/helper dyad.[4] Even then, however, careful examination of the material may still illuminate the original therapeutic difficulty as reflected in the parallel situation.[5]

## See also

- [Acting in](/source/Acting_in)

- [Acting out](/source/Acting_out)

- [Joseph J. Sandler](/source/Joseph_J._Sandler)

- [Psychology portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Psychology)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Parallel process in supervision](http://www.ericdigests.org/1995-1/process.htm)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** S. Power, *Nursing Supervision* (1999) p. 162

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** G. O. Gabbard, *Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy* (2010) p. 195

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** P. Clarkson, *On Psychotherapy* (1993) p. 202

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** G. O. Gabbard, *Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy* (2010) p. 196-197

## Further reading

- H. F. Searles, "The Informational Value Of The Supervisor's Emotional Experience" *Psychiatry* (1955) 18:135-146.

- M J G Doehrman, "Parallel processes in supervision and psychotherapy" *Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic* (1976) 40:3-104

- H. K. Gedimer "The parallelism phenomenon in psychoanalysis and supervision" *Psychoanalytic Quarterly* (1980)49:234-255

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