Forensic Psychiatry: Influences of Evil [Hardcover]

An international panel of experts from diverse specialties examine the idea of evil in a medical context, specifically a mental health setting, to consider how the concept can be usefully interpreted, and to elucidate its relationship to forensic psychiatry. The authors challenge the belief that the concept of evil plays no role in scientific psychiatry and is not helpful to our understanding of aberrant human thinking and behavior. Among the viewpoints up for debate are a consideration of organizations as evil structures, the medicalization of evil, destruction as a constructive choice, violence as a secular evil, talking about evil when it is not supposed to exist, and the influence of evil on forensic clinical practice. Among the highlights are a psychological exploration of the notion of evil and a variety of interesting research methods used to explore the nature of evil. Organizations As Evil Structures.- The Psychopharmaceutical Complex.- Intention, Excuse, and Insanity.- An Archaeology of the Psychopath.- The Comforts of Evil.- Madness, Badness, and Evil.- Destruction As a Constructive Choice.- Violence As Secular Evil.- Scapegoat, Spectacle, and Confessional.- The Vilification of Victimized Children in Historical Perspective.- Evil.- Capacities and Dispositions.- Should Radical Evil Be Forgiven?.- Mad, Bad, and Evil.- Talking About Evil, Even When It Is Not Supposed to Exist.- The Influence of Evil on Forensic Clinical Practice.- Hope in the Face of Evil.Many conscientious mental health professionals caring for disturbed patients have either unscientifically formulated for themselves notions of evil to explain the behavior of their patients, or have been given patients described by judges and the press as evil. Although such notions may be deemed unscientific, beyond the purview of medicine, and better suited for discussion by theologians and moral philosophers, the fact remains that these notions of evil have a definite impact on the praclƒO