ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the properties of holding work and outlines some factors in its use. Holding work was immediately recognised and readily identified by the vast majority of these doctors as a routine part of everyday primary care. The group of patients being held by any single general practitioner with an average list at any one time was small, up to 20 people from all age groups over the age of 20 years. Patients with mental health problems, or a past history of such problems, are the most commonly mentioned group of those needing holding. Other groups mentioned by one or two doctors as possibilities for holding are anxiety, alcohol dependency, post-natal depression, borderline or inadequate personalities, bipolar disorder and anorexia nervosa. Management of holding varies from doctor to doctor and from patient to patient, and will be influenced by how well the doctor knows the patient.
