“In celebration of its centenary, the tavistock and portman nhs trust hosted a series of lectures. this paper has evolved from a lecture on trauma work within the trust shared with graham music. the history and theoretical developments of clinical work with adult patients in the tavistock trauma service are outlined.”

“This article is about the connections between the fields of sociology and psychoanalysis, as they have been present in the traditions of the tavistock clinic and institute of human relations from their origins to the present day. it describes a ‘double dissonance’ in this relationship, in that the tavistock’s commitment was never to psychoanalysis or to sociology, narrowly conceived. its interest was in a broad conception of the social sciences, involving socio-psychological, socio-technical and ecological perspectives, and it developed a broader social engagement of psychoanalytic perspectives than that of a conventional psychoanalytic institute. nevertheless, the tavistock synthesis has been an original and valuable one. the tavistock institute’s model of research has been closely linked, through its consultancy practice, to social action, and it has investigated and initiated democratic forms of organisation. the tavistock clinic developed a model of mental health care and professional education within the national health service, which provided support to individuals, families and communities at each stage of the human life cycle. although both of these models have been placed under pressure in the individualist and market-oriented climate of recent decades, both traditions survive and retain a potential for the future.”

“An event held in december 2020 explored the rich clinical work and innovative thinking around autism spectrum condition at the tavistock over the past four decades. consultant child and adolescent psychotherapists sue reid and anne alvarez describe their early groundbreaking work within the tavistock autism team and workshop. this work yielded the fascinating clinical observations that there were some children with the condition who made significant gains in therapy, leading to major developments in psychoanalytic techniques for this group. since then, there has been a continuing influence of psychoanalytical, systemic perspectives on the tavistock approach to autism. it is an approach which at the same time is firmly rooted in the research around autism’s neurodevelopmental basis. nechama polak, clinical psychologist, provides an account of how the current work of the team has increasingly focused on supporting young adults with the condition, and their parents, whilst myooran canagaratnam, consultant psychiatrist, describes the tavistock approach to diagnostic assessment.”

“The new diagnosis of complex post traumatic stress disorder presents diagnostic and treatment challenges that need to be grappled with, since, in a troubled world, it is increasingly important to understand the impact and aftermath of traumatic experiences and, crucially, how to work with those affected by them. in complex trauma, joanne stubley and linda young have assembled a fascinating range of approaches in order to explore the questions of understanding and intervention. they detail the relevance of an applied psychoanalytic approach, both in the tavistock trauma service and, more broadly, in illuminating understanding of traumatized individuals. the book includes chapters related to the impact of trauma on the body, as well as on the mind, incorporating neurobiological and attachment theory to develop ideas on the impact and aftermath of complex trauma. a number of specialist areas of trauma work are covered within this volume, including work with adolescents, with refugees and asylum seekers, with military veterans, and with survivors of child sexual abuse. the editors bring together chapters that will be of interest to those working with traumatized individuals in a variety of settings and using different modalities. the central importance of relationships, as understood within the psychoanalytic model, is depicted throughout as being at the heart of understanding and working with traumatic experience.”

“What makes workers work better: social or financial incentives? this important management research question has a long and contested history, with most studies emphasizing the former. almost all research into this question draws on the hawthorne studies conducted by elton mayo and colleagues in the interwar united states, with the hawthorne studies even playing a part in the foundation of the tavistock institute and its journal human relations in 1947. as this article reveals, the allegedly-unique nature of the hawthorne studies is an invented tradition deeply embedded in the human relations field to this day. to explode this invented tradition, this article uses previously unstudied historical sources to recover and examine the long-forgotten incentives and contentment (1938) studies, conducted from 1929 onwards by sociologist clarence northcott at the rowntree cocoa works in york, uk. in contrast to the hawthorne studies, the rowntree management research found that financial incentives were more important than social incentives. this article then charts how fashions in work incentives, the importance of personalities and networks, the relatively weak position of sociology in postwar britain, and the prestige of american expertise, combined in 1947 to ensure the tavistock’s founders believed the hawthorne studies were unique.”

“The psychoanalytic exploration of group relations requires an orientation to the intersubjective nature of mental life. the tavistock model of group relations provides a preliminary framework for thinking intersubjectively about the nature of experiences in groups. however, this model continues to depend on the questionable metaphor of the isolated mind as a container of reified mental contents, which can be passed around by means of projective identification. furthermore, it continues to invoke the notion of a neutral analyst or consultant with privileged insight into the group’s unconscious fantasy life. through a critical discussion of this approach, the author attempts to begin a dialogue about intersubjectivity and its implications for the study and practice of group relations. he argues that an intersubjective approach requires one to look not at how reified mental contents are being moved around within a given group, but rather at how intersubjective experiences can be cocreated by the group members and their conference consultants. he focuses on how enactments between all of these participants can lead to a transformation of self and other through the experience of mutual subjugation and the emergence of a shared third space. in addition, he introduces the concept of the alien group self, a shared identity that the group can form to accommodate to the mindset of its consultants. © 2011 american psychological association.”

“The new diagnosis of complex post traumatic stress disorder presents diagnostic and treatment challenges that need to be grappled with, since, in a troubled world, it is increasingly important to understand the impact and aftermath of traumatic experiences and, crucially, how to work with those affected by them. in complex trauma, joanne stubley and linda young have assembled a fascinating range of approaches in order to explore the questions of understanding and intervention. they detail the relevance of an applied psychoanalytic approach, both in the tavistock trauma service and, more broadly, in illuminating understanding of traumatized individuals. the book includes chapters related to the impact of trauma on the body, as well as on the mind, incorporating neurobiological and attachment theory to develop ideas on the impact and aftermath of complex trauma. a number of specialist areas of trauma work are covered within this volume, including work with adolescents, with refugees and asylum seekers, with military veterans, and with survivors of child sexual abuse. the editors bring together chapters that will be of interest to those working with traumatized individuals in a variety of settings and using different modalities. the central importance of relationships, as understood within the psychoanalytic model, is depicted throughout as being at the heart of understanding and working with traumatic experience.”

“Notions of action research and of integrating object relations and field psychologies have exerted a steady influence on both the initial formation of the tavistock institute in london and on the subsequent 60 years of its professional identity and approach to work. these notions can be tied directly to early scientific contact with kurt lewin, and indirectly through the lewinian philosophy that staff incorporated into an overall ‘house style’. from 1990, however, changes in the institute’s funding environment undermined this historical source of integrity. recent developments to reclaim and update the roots of kurt lewin at the tavistock institute. © 2005, taylor & francis group, llc.”

“The aim of this paper is intentionally broad rather than deep. it proposes a re-shaping of the main building blocks of the tavistock paradigm based on ideas drawn from complexity theories, neuroscience, peircean logic and other sources. it questions the apparent rigidity of the tavistock paradigm over the last 70 years and asks whether this represents the systems-psychodynamic community attempting to seal itself off from a hyper-turbulent or vortical environment. it argues that, if the tavistock paradigm is to remain vital, it must realign its ‘inside’ logic with the ‘outside’ logic of that environment. as a possible means of updating the tavistock paradigm to reflect developments in other fields, it tentatively proposes a realignment of the concepts of primary task, social defences, basic assumption, the sophisticated group, sentience, containment and the boundary. it also proposes that systemspsychodynamic theory should accord greater prominence to pairings and to our oscillation as social individuals between pairings and groups. in proposing a means of integrating the tavistock paradigm with related fields, this paper seeks to open up a boundary zone in which ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ logics can meet so that it becomes permissible to experiment and play with new ideas.”