You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
It is a pleasure to review this ambitious book on the psychodynamic meaning of containment. Readers interested in Bion's seminal work on this topic will benefit from seeing how well-known thinkers and practitioners apply his ideas across various organisational settings. Tiago Mendes’ chapter, “Containment and holding”, provides a solid introduction to the concept and effectively compares Bion's work on containment with Winnicott's idea of the holding environment. The book's goal of presenting both theory and its practical application helps us understand the foundations of the systems psychodynamics tradition and the challenges of applying it to organisations. It underscores the challenge Bion posed: to use binocular vision for understanding groups. In this review, I suggest this means connecting person and context, process and structure, and containment and disruption.
Consider, for example, Robert Hinshelwood's chapter on “Cultural differences between groups”. He convincingly argues that the division of labour, a fundamental aspect of work life, can itself cause misunderstandings and tension. Hospital managers and healthcare professionals, for example, handle different risks: the former focus on financial sustainability, while the latter focus on patient well-being. In extreme cases, these two groups may scapegoat each other or even see one another as enemies, forgetting that they are part of a larger, coordinated system. In a novel approach, Hinshelwood examines the differences between Freud's informal study group and Jung's hospital clinic to better understand some of the conflicts in the founding of the first psychoanalytic journal.
While Hinshelwood's description rings true, he overlooks the role hierarchy plays in managing such tensions. In most organisations, the supervisory function provides a space where conflicts can be addressed and resolved without unnecessary drama. This is why divisions of labour often remain stable and effective.