Groups for the Analysis of Carer Practices in the General Hospital: The Experience of a Clinical Psychologist
Type de matériel :
98
This article gives an account of the practice of a psychoanalytically-oriented clinical psychologist conducting groups for analyzing practices in the context of her assignments at a general hospital. The article begins with a description of the current status quo of the relationship between ‘carers of the body’ (doctors and paramedics) and patients (persons suffering from serious pathologies or multiple traumas) as well as the specific risks of professional exhaustion in the caring profession. We then define the theoretical framework that underpins the task of conducting these groups as undertaken by a psychologist who is herself part of the institution. These groups, which are akin to Balint groups, focus on the caring relationship and on the different interactions that occur within it. The psychologist is there to help group members ‘think through’ clinical situations and the psychic issues underlying them, and to help them ‘clarify’ their feelings. Above and beyond the resistances that tend to be provoked by this type of training, which involves working on the feelings of carers, in our discussion we note how the organizational context of hospitals renders the task of setting them up increasingly difficult.
Réseaux sociaux