Introduction

There is a rich and diverse tradition of applying psychoanalytic understanding to dynamics that occur in families, groups, institutions and social systems (Freud, 1921; Jaques, 1953; Bion, 1961; Box et al., 1981; Britton, 1981; Menzies Lyth 1988, 1989; Obholzer and Zagier Roberts, 1994; Hinshelwood and Skogstad, 2000; Sprince, 2000; Huffi ngton et al., 2004; Armstrong, 2005; Cooper and Lousada, 2005; Emanuel, 2006). This approach involves the concept of unconscious group, institutional or social processes; people within different parts of a family, institution or a system (Lewin, 1947; Miller and Rice, 1967; Zagier Roberts, 1994) interact or act in consort, but without conscious awareness, in ways determined partly by unconscious anxieties, feelings, defences, beliefs and assumptions. Specifi c anxieties, feelings and so on may be more at play according to the nature and task of the group or system; thus, for instance, anxieties about madness are likely to be more active in the context of a mental health service.