The use of psychoanalytic knowledge during the implementation of penal measures

Author: Hoffmann, Klaus

Source: International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Volume 18, Number 1, March 2009 , pp. 3-10(8)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

Theoretical and clinical concepts of psychoanalysis are presented here in terms of their relevance for forensic psychotherapy. They can be applied to individual psychotherapy, special nursing care, and the theory and practice of a therapeutic community. Essential concepts of seduction and traumatisation are presented in the language of drive psychology, as well as in the modern terms of self psychology and object relations theory. The criminal act forms the basis of forensic psychotherapy, the aim of which is to prevent a repetition of this or a similar act. This means that a certain type of act, namely a criminal act, lies at the heart of not only forensic psychotherapy, but also the concept of action itself. Psychoanalytic concepts stress the unconscious processes around and after the act. These processes are repeated in the everyday life of the therapeutic community and in the specific psychotherapeutic situations. Empiric evaluations are methodologically very difficult, as they must investigate multiprofessional settings.

Keywords: forensic psychotherapy; therapeutic community; psychotraumatology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08037060802456644

Publication date: 2009-03-01

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