Rapid changes in the ethos and functioning of the NHS are examined in the light of their effect on the multidisciplinary team members of a psychotherapy service. A process account is given of the nature of the changes in the service, the early emergence of difficulties in the team and their identification in psychodynamic terms. Some preliminary solutions are discussed. A theoretical discussion examines the need for an alternative meta psychology, involving the concept of the autonomous self and open systems theory, to aid our understanding of the process by which a system change can provoke psychic disturbance in the individual.