Public anxiety and health policy: A psychodynamic perspective

Abstract

In this article, we explore how the application of organizational psychodynamic theories might improve the understanding of unconscious forces influencing apparently rational and evidence-based processes such as the generation and implementation of health policy. There is a growing body of literature using psychodynamic theories to explore discontinuities in policy-making and the containment of anxiety in organizations. In this article, we focus on the dyadic relationship between policy formation and the media/public response, in particular knee-jerk reactions that can cause 'U' turns in policy implementation, and the role of organizational leaders in containing public anxiety. We illustrate this using three contrasting instrumental case examples. Drawing on the seminal work of Isabel Menzies and the psychodynamic literature, we explore how anxiety is manifested in organizations and the role of public institutions as receptacles of public anxiety. We suggest that policy has a latent function of controlling objects into which public anxiety is projected and that we need to understand the sources of this anxiety if more rational policy responses are to ensue. We also explore the implications this has for policy development generally and for the role of senior managers.

Antecedents of Individuals’ Concerns Regarding Hospital Hygiene and Surgery Postponement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional, Web-Based Survey Study (Preprint)

“…This might have influenced participants' responses to our survey. With regard to the relationship between health policy formation and public responses [34], the most important finding of our study was that anxiety was related to both the affective reactions and anticipated behaviors of the participants. Allgleton and Kippax [35], who conducted an analysis on Australian HIV/AIDS policies, argued that suppressed anxiety can be used as a depressive position for eliciting a desired response in the general public [35].…”

Antecedents of Individuals’ Concerns Regarding Hospital Hygiene and Surgery Postponement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional, Web-Based Survey Study

“…This might have influenced participants’ responses to our survey. With regard to the relationship between health policy formation and public responses [ 34 ], the most important finding of our study was that anxiety was related to both the affective reactions and anticipated behaviors of the participants. Allgleton and Kippax [ 35 ], who conducted an analysis on Australian HIV/AIDS policies, argued that suppressed anxiety can be used as a depressive position for eliciting a desired response in the general public [ 35 ].…”

Combining ethics and compliance: A systems psychodynamic inquiry into praxis and outcomes

“…Unconscious mechanisms and processes influence both individual behaviour and behaviour on the collective or systemic level (Petriglieri & Petriglieri, 2015). With this cognition, systems psychodynamic pioneers such as Bion, Rice and Klein developed Freud's psychoanalytic theories further (Petriglieri & Petriglieri, 2020), to provide a psychoanalytic lens through which to interpret unconscious drivers of behaviour and groups (Walsh et al., 2016).…”

“…Groups manage intense anxiety and protect their sense of self by splitting off the good and the bad elements of their existence (Ford, 2010; Fotaki, 2006; Paul et al., 2002). Goodness is introjected into the self, while the bad elements are projected onto the rest of the organisation (Walsh et al., 2016). This process is similar to how the human resources department is often projected to be incompetent, as if other departments are faultless.…”