THE ART AND ANGST OF THE MENTORING RELATIONSHIP

The authors review the ancient mentoring relationship in Homer's Odyss ey and the mentoring discourse of Socrates. These relationships illust rate the art of inspiring a searching quality in the subject and the a ngst of the struggle that accompanies perplexity amid unknowing. The d evelopmental stages of the mentor and resident in psychiatric training are reviewed. A spectrum of teaching interventions are discussed as t hey might be perceived by the student. Finally, Plato's ''Allegory of the Cave'' is used as a metaphor for the art of Enlightenment and angs t of learning and teaching in the mentoring relationship.