Related Experiment Videos
[Penal responsibility and the unconscious conflict]
Schweizer Archiv Fur Neurologie, Neurochirurgie Und Psychiatrie = Archives Suisses De Neurologie, Neurochirurgie Et De Psychiatrie
|January 1, 1978
Summary
The study critiques the psychoanalytic model in understanding criminal responsibility, arguing that intra-psychic conflicts are distinct from interpersonal ones in legal and psychiatric contexts.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Psychiatry
- Legal Psychology
Context:
- The traditional model of penal responsibility in law and psychiatry is shifting towards a personality-based concept.
- The psychoanalytic model is increasingly utilized, focusing on the psychiatrist-delinquent relationship.
Purpose:
- To critically evaluate the psycho-dynamic approach to understanding delinquents.
- To highlight epistemological and value-based limitations of psychoanalytic concepts in forensic contexts.
Summary:
- The psychoanalytic approach constructs a 'new history' for delinquents, but its concepts are metaphorical and context-dependent.
- Psychoanalytic theory may privilege certain neurotic structures due to the expert's own value system.
- Intra-psychic conflicts should not be conflated with interpersonal conflicts, particularly in criminal cases.
Impact:
- Challenges the epistemological validity of applying psychoanalytic theories in forensic settings.
- Suggests a need for more nuanced approaches to criminal responsibility beyond psychoanalytic interpretations.
- Advocates for distinguishing between internal psychological states and external behaviors in legal and psychiatric evaluations.