Emotional Reactions to Forensic Work

The author of this article primarily functions, not as a forensic psychiatrist, but as a psychotherapist to patients at various stages of the legal process (as victims or their alleged perpetrators of crimes) who are referred by their attorneys. Complicating factors with regard to this kind of referral include: the censorship of material by the patient, whose psychoanalytic psychotherapist's notes may be reviewed by attorneys and the Court; the possiblity that the psychotherapist may have to be called to testify; and that the referring attorney lawyer may expect the psychoanalytic psychotherapist to “produce” a diagnosis which helps the patient's case. When “secondardy gain” is the primary motivation for forensic patients, the treatment often comes to an abrupt halt as soon as the trial is completed. The emotional reactions of the psychoanalytic psychotherapist may be heightened in such cases. Additionally, the treating therapist may oscillate between finding the crimes committed, and the patient who allegedly committed them, morally repulsive, and finding herself identifying with aspects of the patient victim/criminal. Two forensic cases are discussed, along with the author's personal moral and emotional reactions.