Psychoanalytic Inquiry

Gunsberg, Linda

doi: 10.1080/07351690903012126pmid: N/A

The responsibilities of the psychoanalyst who enters the courtroom as a forensic expert are different from those of the treating psychoanalyst. The public exposure of the psychoanalytic forensic expert's work in the courtroom often becomes grounds for attempts to denigrate and deflate the self-esteem and credibility of the forensic expert. Yet, the courtroom is an exciting arena for the application of psychoanalytic theory and concepts, and the psychoanalytic method. The author shows how psychoanalytic adult and child training actually enhance the success of both the forensic evaluation and Court testimony.

Alexander-Guerra, Lycia

doi: 10.1080/07351690903012225pmid: N/A

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.

Demby, Steven

doi: 10.1080/07351690903013959pmid: N/A

The concept of parental conflict, as it is used in the custody evaluation literature, rarely conveys the motivational complexity of chronic parental acrimony. The concept of pathological hatred better describes and explains why some parents continue bitter fighting years after their divorce. Kernberg's classificatory schema of pathological hatred is applied to high-conflict divorces in which such hatred may be viewed as an effort to destroy, while at the same time desperately needing, the other parent. Difficulties mourning the lost marital relationship, stemming from either character pathology or childhood trauma, create a fertile breeding ground for pathological hatred. The concept of parental competence is also frequently oversimplified in the custody evaluation literature, where it is viewed as an assortment of unrelated skills. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the capacity for parenting is viewed as an outgrowth of a parent's object relationships, defensive structure, ego functioning, superego functioning, and unresolved developmental conflicts. Pathological hatred of the other parent tends to erode the parent's capacity for nurturance, as the parent sacrifices support of the child's developmental needs to the goal of making the child a pawn in the interparental hatred. The negative impact on the child's development can be insidious. An understanding of pathological hatred in high-conflict divorce enables the forensic custody evaluator to assist courts in making appropriate recommendations for therapeutic intervention, as well as custodial and visitation plans that have the potential to ameliorate or at least contain the damaging impact of the interparent hostilities on the child's development.

Kliman, Gilbert

doi: 10.1080/07351690903013991pmid: N/A

Because of its depth and scope, child psychoanalytic testimony can make major contributions to the civil justice system. Attorneys can strategically use such testimony to favorably influence institutional practices and standards of children's care. When requested by a skilled attorney, carefully integrated with that attorney's professional tasks and skills, psychoanalytic testimony can lead to more thorough and knowledgeable compensation for injured children than occurs with superficial approaches to the course of psychological pathology and care. Governments and institutions are then likely to be required by courts and juries to pay appropriate, rather than token, compensation for negligently allowing children to be traumatized in life-damaging ways. The author draws on his experience in the field of psychoanalysis and forensic child psychiatry, in over 200 separate cases, most of them civil, many with multiple victims. About 70% were requested by child plaintiffs' attorneys, and 30% by defense attorneys. Despite important failures, such as in defense of a mother accused of the scientifically questionable condition called Munchausen syndrome by proxy, the cumulative impact of the psychoanalytic forensic endeavor helps increase beneficial social change. Child protection standards improve, and major compensation is given traumatized children when the negligent or abusive parties are held financially responsible. To show the measurable significance that the judicial system gives to psychoanalytically informed evaluations and testimony, the author draws upon plaintiff children's cases through 2001. Among these cases, his reports and testimony helped attorneys bring about awards and settlements totaling over a quarter billion dollars, when the non-profit project described ended.

Shopper, Moisy

doi: 10.1080/07351690903014031pmid: N/A

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, allegations of sexual abuse and satanic sexual abuse ravaged child day-care centers, their directors, and their staff. Many were convicted and jailed. As the psychiatric expert for the defense in the Edenton, North Carolina “Little Rascals” trial, I had access to mountains of data. As a result of my total immersion in this case and several earlier ones, I came to appreciate the massive irrational effect that mass hysteria exerts on parents, children, and professionals. Even the judicial process was affected, to the extent that only years later was the defendant's conviction unequivocally reversed, citing several basic judicial errors.

Osofsky, Howard J.; Osofsky, Michael J.

doi: 10.1080/07351690903014064pmid: N/A

Psychoanalytic concepts are extremely important in working within a maximum-security prison, and especially in some of the most extreme parts of this difficult environment. To be most effective and most empathic, one needs to be aware of the impact of the prison environment. Emotionally, there is a tendency to identify with the inmates, to fear their and one's own aggressive impulses, and to retaliate or punish for these impulses. Within the identification with these inmates, there is also recognition of the difficulties in their backgrounds and factors that contributed to their being in the penitentiary.