IJSP Number 6, 2024

76 with the client/supervisee's verbalizations is constructed. To get here the specialist "leads" the client. From Hayes and Cruz's [16] perspective, insight is a broader construct than empathy in that it refers to the therapist's understanding of what the client has communicated, intentionally or not, in almost any form. Insight can be achieved on one's own or through a relationship with a specialist, in our case the therapist or supervisor. To reach insight on our own we need self-reflexivity, to see ourselves as accurately as possible. This is difficult to achieve, as we tend to project onto others what we consider to be undesirable or unacceptable in us, to use defence mechanisms such as repression, intellectualisation, denial in order to gain insight. Maslow mentioned that one of the biggest obstacles in gaining insight is the fear of self-discovery, when we want to gain insight without the help of a specialist. In the supervision programme, supervisees are encouraged to self-observe. Thus, self-reflexivity, which we believe includes self-observation, is necessary for gaining insight. Through self- reflexivity, supervisees: - sharpen their intuition to quickly spot what needs to be changed in them; - learn the ability to practice self-reflection; - become more courageous to stand face-to-face with themselves; - invites self-reflexivity from clients in therapy. Further emphasizing the self-discovery capacity of human beings, Rogers [17] suggested that individuals variably tend toward self-actualization. When a person begins to discover internalized value conditions, the gap between the real and ideal self widens. The greater the discrepancy between one's real and ideal self, the more threatening the experience of gaining insight becomes. Thus, the process of gaining insight generates an internal struggle between fear and curiosity. Tillich [18] spoke openly about the aforementioned tension and the consequences of avoiding such a struggle, at one pole is anxiety and at the other pole is hopelessness, and to be courageous is to face hopelessness by assuming anxiety. We humans are invited to take our anxiety courageously, not to escape into pathological anxiety. Tillich [18] mentioned that behind a neurotic self there is no lack of self-assertion (it can be very strong) but the asserting self is a reduced one, many of the potentialities of the self are not actualized. An actualized self involves accepting non-being and its anxiety (p.66). So from self-reflexivity we come to self-observation, self-awareness and the assumption of anxiety. Supervised therapists, especially at the beginning of their professional journey, are gripped by anxiety, by the fact that they are not working "well", that they are "collecting money without doing much!". We believe that one of the explanations for this anxiety is that at the root is the fear of taking on anxiety