Odd one in: a psychotherapist’s experience of interaction with the judicial system in working with patients with high levels of destructiveness

Abstract

During arrest and investigation, the perpetrator of a murder can find themselves not only locked up in a place of detention, but also in a close dyadic relationship with the judicial system, duplicating the role of the archaic, punitive superego. This con-figuration does not encourage psychic triangulation as a space in which traumatic reality can be accepted and symbolised, nor does it foster an ability to reflect on the crime committed, to grieve, and repent. The alternative position can mean identifica-tion with the criminal community, in which protective narcissistic identity feeding can take place, reinforcing the ego, but not bringing it any closer to contact with reality and the capacity for coming to the depressive position. When mature psychic mechanisms fail to work, archaic processes come into play, fraught with severe manic conditions with a high risk of destructive enactment. This article presents the clinical experience with a forensic patient whose situation went beyond these typical scenarios. The result was the experience of valuable observation and the possibility of building therapeutic relations with the patient in a state of active psy-chotic enactment.