Financial strain, high unemployment rates, institutional inconstancy and job insecurity in the context of the socioeconomic crisis in Greece affect the workforce at various levels. This situation in conjunction with the austerity policies implemented for more than 5 years in the mental health field along with incomplete psychiatric reform has multilevel consequences, including severe deterioration in the quality of medical, psychiatric and social services. For these reasons, we conducted a qualitative research study, in residential units of a Greek NGO, in order to investigate the subjective experience of weakening in personnel, on the institutional group levels in association with the defence mechanisms mobilised in response to the patients' complex psychological attitudes that personnel have to manage. Suggestions for further institutional initiatives and for new themes of future research are also presented.