Andrew Elder – författare

Mental Health has finally come home to primary care, where 90% of all patients with psychological difficulties are diagnosed and treated, and where Governments increasingly see the bulk of mental health commissioning and practice as belonging. This book, whose contributors uniquely include leading figures from the world of both primary care and psychiatry, brings together the best of contemporary psychiatry with a deep understanding of the realities, challenges and opportunities of general practice.The book is divided into four parts. The reader is taken from the first-hand experience of the encounter with the psychiatric patient in the GP consulting room, through the stresses and strains of such work, to the wider primary care mental health team of counselling, family therapy and group dynamics, and finally to specific disorders such as psychosis, eating disorders, depression, suicide, and trauma as they present in the primary care setting. The book ends with practical guidance in the use of psychotropic drugs and psychological treatments in primary care.The tone throughout is influenced by the editors' background , one a GP, the other a psychiatrist, in psychotherapy and 'Balint' groups, which places the doctor's own feelings and aspirations centre stage, no less than those of the patient. The book offers new ideas in two ways. First, in that it looks at how cutting edge psychiatry can be applied and practised in the primary care setting, away from psychiatric institutions, and adapted to the realities of primary care, where distress does not easily fit into predetermined categories derived from secondary care. Second, because the editors, possibly unfashionably, believe that, faced with an ever-expanding, protocol-driven, standardised medical culture, the concepts and ideas of group dynamics and counter-transference need to be rediscovered if primary care is to be effective.In sum, this book is an essential vade-mecum for all primary care mental health workers, whether GPs, psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, psychotherapists or counsellors. It contains practical guidance and holds onto the vision that GP, patient, family and practice team must work together.

Whilst Michael Balint's applied work is widely known, many of his theoretical contributions have been incorporated into everyday analysis without due recognition of their source. In this account of his thinking, Harold Stewart evaluates the extent of Balint's contribution to psychoanalysis and firmly re-establishes his place within the development of Object Relations theory.The first section examines Balint's theories of human psychological development, defining such concepts as primary love, ocnophilia and philobatia, the basic fault and the three areas of the mind. The author places Balint's understanding of the analyst's influence and technique in the context of his relationship with Sandor Ferenczi, his analyst and mentor.The second section of this work looks at how the "Balint Group" has contributed to the assessment and understanding of emotional problems in various areas, including general practice, marital work and psychosexual medicine. A charismatic teacher, Balint's method of work with General Practitioners has become an established worldwide institution. Features of this work, including the use of countertransference and the affective response of the doctor are vividly described here by two General Practitioners, Andrew Elder and Robert Gosling.Michael Balint: Object Relations, Pure and Applied brings alive Balint's teaching and practice and demonstrates the relevance of his theories to many of the problematic issues in current analytic practice.