ABSTRACT
The clinical vignettes presented in the first six chapters refer to work that took place on a small, experimental unit of 11 beds, which shared a ward with a general unit of a similar size. The units together made up an acute admission ward known within the Maudsley as Ward 6. The experimental unit made use of a psychoanalytic perspective in its treatment plans, whilst its partner functioned on more general psychiatric lines. The two units dealt with a wide range of disturbances, and since most of the nursing staff served both units, a beneficial mutual influence evolved. An increasing psychodynamic attitude developed on the ward as a whole, whilst the provision of a firm psychiatric base for work of a psychotherapeutic nature came to be appreciated.
