Pax Iliev: law, life and care in transition

The presentation proceeds from a clinical case of domestic violence, its management in terms of professional roles and institutional involvement and the analysis of the dynamic mental processes. It is argued that regimes of total control abolish legal systems and leave a void behind. In the course of transition to civil society, rule by intimidation and threat at a local community level is the rule. Suffering and trauma are intense and health systems necessarily become involved. A pattern of decontextualizing depression may be common and revealing of institutional defence mechanisms at work. Continuous affirmation of procedures of good practice, e.g. supervision, gives a chance for the preservation of institutional sanity and professional ethics.