[Management dialogue within multi-professional teams: contribution of psychoanalysis to integrated therapy of psychotic patients]

Abstract

By means of case studies and experiences in supervising multiprofessional teams in psychiatric wards it is pointed out that the institutional frame of psychiatry is dynamically connected with the intrapsychic conflicts of the psychotic patients and their interpersonal defence. The understanding of the teammembers' countertransference prevents collusive patterns of relationship. This symbolizing process which is permanently endangered by the psychotic splitting mechanisms of the patients as well as by the institutional defence contributes to develop a "common language" in the multiprofessional teams. Furthermore psychoanalytic supervision enables the multiprofessional staff to understand the intrapsychic and the interactional dimension of the behaviour of the psychotic patient and to maintain their empathy even under difficult conditions.