Some uses of the Psychoanalyst in the NHS

SUMMARY

This paper addresses various training issues of psychotherapy training in mental hospitals. It discusses some particular attitudes about the use of the Psychoanalyst as a Psychotherapist as well as the Institutions' (i.e. psychiatric establishments) desire often for a superficial teaching in Psychotherapy. It describes a training for NHS staff in psychodynamics and in particular in use of the counter-transference from Balint's model of general practitioner training groups.

Training groups most usually seen in GP seminars, with their central use of counter-transference by the analyst, can be extended to train medical students, nurses, social workers, etc. It is a form of training that uses the analytic stance rather than something of lesser alloy, and allows the Psychoanalyst to be himself rather than function at the level of a Psychotherapist alone.