ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to revisit one of the founding paradigms of a psychoanalytically informed approach to the practical understanding of institutions. It reviews academic research on nursing practice since its publication. The book discusses the sexual anxieties evoked in teachers by adolescent pupils. It explores the dynamics of containing sexual violence in the work of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre. The book describes the fear of failure engendered in primary school head teachers who feel both isolated and persecuted. It also describes the feelings of shame, humiliation, and anger that threaten to overcome the young offenders with whom they work. The book outlines an approach to the psycho-social which seeks to take account of both internal and external forces contributing to irrational states of mind, insisting on their necessary synthesis.
