HOMELESSNESS AND CONTAINMENT – A PSYCHOTHERAPY PROJECT WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE AND WORKERS IN THE HOMELESS FIELD

Abstract

A high percentage of homeless people suffer from a severe degree of personality disorder that causes them to fall through the net of psychiatric and caring services. Their persistent inability to maintain an actual dwelling‐place as a location of stability and meaning, is also reflected in an inner state of fragility, and in relationship difficulties that lead to destructive behaviours that inevitably alienate others. In this paper, the relationship between homelessness, the maternal body, buildings and containment is explored, using clinical material which illustrates how the claustro‐agoraphobic dilemma (Henri Rey 1994), intrinsic to the state of homelessness and to borderline conditions, impacts on vulnerable individuals and on care workers in this field. Examples drawn from staff consultations demonstrate how psychodynamic thinking can help to provide containment within systems of care.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks to Dr Rhiannon Pugh, Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and Dr Valerie Walker, psychoanalyst, for support and advice on preparing this paper, and to the many homeless people whose plight inspired thought on their predicament.