‘I Took a Life because I Needed One’: Psychotherapeutic Possibilities with the Schizophrenic Offender-Patient
- 1 January 1982
- journal article
- research article
- Published by S. Karger AG in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
- Vol. 37 (2) , 96-105
- https://doi.org/10.1159/000287559
Abstract
This paper’s fulcrum is a schizophrenic’s explanation as to why he had taken a life: ‘I took a life because I needed one.’ It attempts to describe the exploration of therapeutic possibilities with the schizophrenic offender-patient. Particular attention is paid to the Associative Mode. This is a way of safely engaging with the patient in the depth of his experience without shattering his precarious defences. The discussion illustrates the close inter-dependence between the dynamic content of individual and group psychotherapy, the life of the hospital as a whole and the significance of therapeutic space being contained within a secure perimeter.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Psychotherapy of Schizophrenia: New or Revised ProceduresAmerican Journal of Psychotherapy, 1980