Careful Engagement: Can the work of Ettinger, Klein and Bion help us to understand the relational field in dementia care?

Abstract

Despite a widespread focus on dementia – a focus on cause, care and cure – in both the media and on the agenda of policy makers, it is not always clear what is understood about the relational field in professional dementia care. This article draws on ideas that have their origins in psychoanalysis as a way in to exploring the affective and bodily encounters that can take place in a residential care setting. Informed by the work of Klein, Bion and Ettinger, the article sets out to demonstrate how connections between the professional carer and the cared-for are sometimes made, unmade and remade, and where at times the figure of the maternal might emerge in relationship to the other or to the wider organisation. Combining theory with observational vignettes, taken from an ongoing organisational study, the article suggests that to approach the work of relating from a psychoanalytical perspective can both enliven care practice and generate curiosity towards the other, both at an organisational and individual level.

Keywords:

• dementia
• relating
• curiosity
• epistemophilic instinct
• container-contained
• matrixial

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

This paper won first prize in the Student Section of the 2014 Psychodynamic Practice Essay Competition.