ABSTRACT
There has been a continuing interest in using psychoanalytic thinking when considering the complexity of organisations, the dynamics within them and the ensuing stresses on groups and individuals, who are part of them. This interest has provided us with a helpful understanding of how institutions work, and the defences they mobilise to assuage anxieties arising within them. These include such well-known defence mechanisms as denial, resistance, splitting and projecting (Jaques 1955; Hinshelwood 1987, 1994; Menzies Lyth 1988; Halton 1995; Obholzer and Zagier Roberts 1995). The tendency to use such defences becomes more pronounced when the institution feels challenged and threatened (for example, by the freezing or cutting of posts). This is the experience, at the moment, of many mental health institutions, including community CAMH services. Understanding the unconscious workings of institutions can help us to cope better with life in our own institution and avoid succumbing to competing and irreconcilable tensions within it. Hopefully this will enable us to survive and enjoy our work without too much cost to the soul.
