The resistances to psycho-analysis: an old devil in modern clothing?

This paper addresses the organizational resistance to psychoanalytic thinking within the public services. The paper begins with a look at Freud's proposal that resistance to psychoanalytic theory is provoked by his assertion that sexual impulses underlie much of human activity. The author suggests that similar unconscious resistance to psychoanalytic thinking is present in organizations today, but that which we in the modern world find more unacceptable than sex as such is to be confronted with our own essential vulnerability. It is argued that because psychoanalytic therapy makes us aware of the limits of our ability to control our emotional experience, it evokes resistance at the individual and organizational level. Therapies that promote mastery and control are more acceptable because they allow these defences to be maintained and sometimes reinforced. The consequences of this in terms of loss of creativity are explored.