In this paper I revisit Isabel Menzies’s classic ‘nursing paper’ (I.E.P. Menzies [1960]. A case-study in the functioning of social systems as a defence against anxiety: A report on a study of the nursing service of a general hospital. Human
Relations, 13, 95—121). I outline the main findings of the paper and connect it to the major theoretical developments made by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and consider the current relevance of the paper in the contemporary field of health and social care.
Bion, W.R. ( 1959). Attacks on linking. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 40, 308-315.
2.
Emery, F.E. ( 1959). Characteristics of socio-technical systems. London: Tavistock Institute.
3.
Gould, J.Stapley, L. , & Stein, M. (Eds.). (2001). The systems psychodynamics of organisations. London: Karnac.
4.
Klein, M. ( 1959). Our adult world and its roots in infancy. Human Relations, 12, 291-303. (Also reprinted as Tavistock Pamphlet No. 2. London: Tavistock Publications, 1960).
5.
Lawlor, D., & Webb, L. ( 2009). An interview with Isabel Menzies Lyth with a conceptual commentary. In D. Lawlor & L. Webb (Eds.), Organisational and social dynamics, (Vol. 9, no. 1). London: Karnac Books.
6.
Lewin, K. ( 1951). Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers. New York: Harper and Row .
7.
Menzies-Lyth, I.E.P. ( 1989). The dynamics of the social: Selected essays, Vol. 2. London: Free Association Books.
8.
Menzies-Lyth, I.E.P. ( 1991). Changing organisations and individuals: Psychoanalytic insights for improving organisational health. In M.F.R. Kets de Vries (Ed.), Organisations on the couch: Clinical perspectives on organisational behavior and change (pp. 361-364). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
9.
Schon, D. ( 1971). Beyond the stable state. London: Temple Smith.
10.
Trist, E.L., & Bamforth, K.W. (1951). Some social and psychological consequences of the Longwall method of coal getting. Human Relations, 4, 3-38.
11.
Trist, E.L., & Murray, H. ( 1990). The social engagement of the social cciences: A Tavistock anthology: Vol. 1. The socio-psychological perspective. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press .
12.
Trist, E.L., & Murray H. ( 1993). The social engagement of the social sciences: A Tavistock anthology: Vol. 2. The socio-technical perspective. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
13.
Trist, B., & Murray, H. ( 1997). The social engagement of the social sciences: A Tavistock anthology: Vol. 3. The socio-ecological perspective. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
14.
von Bertalanffy, L. ( 1950a). The theory of open systems in physics and biology. Science, 3, 23-9.
15.
von Bertalanffy, L. ( 1950b). An outline of general system theory. British Journal of the Philosophy of Science, 1, 134-65
