As contingências do trabalho bancário: Um estudo sobre os mecanismos de mediação e defesa do sofrimento.

The banking sector has undergone remarkable changes since the production restructuring inthe 1990s, which caused a significant decrease in the number of workers and changes in thework organization. Such contingencies have caused an impact on the mental health of bankworkers, and it is important to investigate the mechanisms of mediation and defense againstsuffering used by workers in this context. In this descriptive, qualitative research, bank workersof a national private institution were interviewed. The interviews were subjected to contentanalysis. The research identified the effects of work organization, where the management assumptiongenerates an important individualization of the work, since the banking workers arestressed by the pressure of the goal and the need for recognition. There is a subjective mobilizationtrying to mediate the suffering resulting from the work dynamics, as evidenced by an affectivesuperficiality and the isolation that seeks to account for the demand for attributionsimposed, which is reflected in the condition of customer service. The mediation strategies inthe participants’ experiences are cooperation, practical intelligence and transgression. Virilecynicism, affective insensitivity, isolation, and psychical illness were identified as defense mechanisms