The Psychosocial Dynamics of Change at Leros PIKPA Asylum

Abstract

The pilot intervention project at Leros PIKPA asylum was resisted at all levels of its implementation. Resistance ranged from implicit and passive to explicit and hostile. It took the form of strong rejective attitudes, defensiveness, and repressed emotions of guilt, shame and fear. It was apparent in efforts to delay, obstruct or reverse the progress of the project and undermine the work of intervention team members. It was evident in the interactions of the intervention team with all parties involved in implementing the project: medical professionals and welfare services, the state and local administrations, the central and local administrations of PIKPA staff, the local community, and the asylum residents' families and relatives. It is argued that this resistance to change is due to the interplay of cultural/attitudinal, psychodynamic and socio-economic factors that are not unique to Leros or Greece. The analysis of the psychosocial processes involved in resistance to changing the Leros PIKPA asylum may offer insights to the deinstitutionalisation of custodial settings in general.