Dangerous Lunatics
Trauma, Criminality, and Forensic Psychotherapy
By (author) Brett Kahr
Paperback (Published)
(July 2020)
ISBN: 9781913494063
5.08 x 7.28 inches
Price: $31.00
In stock
This book considers the intersection between madness and violence across the ages, and investigates how Sigmund Freud and the early generation of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists challenged the more primitive, punitive models.
In the pre-modern era, those who committed serious crimes would invariably be treated with extreme cruelty – often punished, tortured, eviscerated, and executed in the most grisly, sadistic fashion. Over time, the treatment of offenders has become more enlightened and more benign. But have we really progressed sufficiently in our approach to the rehabilitation and cure of vicious perpetrators of savage acts? This book considers the intersection between madness and violence across the ages, and investigates how Sigmund Freud and the early generation of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists challenged the more primitive, punitive models. Professor Kahr also discusses some landmark projects, which help to humanise serious criminal offenders and further our understanding of the ways in which severe early childhood trauma plays an important role in the genesis of extreme criminality.
Introduction: The man who shot his mother and father in the face
1. Torture and Execution: Ancient Remedies for Perpetrators
2. The Medicalisation of Insanity: Hereditary Taint and the Criminal Brain
3. The Freudian Challenge: Towards a Humanisation of Offenders
4. The Growth of Forensic Psychotherapy: From Punishment to Treatment
5. Paedophilia: The Sexualisation of Trauma
6. Murder: The Castration of Safety
Conclusion: Blue-sky thinking: the future of forensic mental health
End notes
Acknowledgements
References
Index
- By (author) Brett Kahr
'Only Brett Kahr could produce such a masterpiece as Dangerous Lunatics. Written in a stunning literary style, Kahr‘s book combines his unique expertise as a clinician and as an historian to tell this vital tale about how we have treated criminals throughout the ages and how we might do much, much better in the future!'
— Professor Estela V. Welldon, Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Portman Clinic, London, and Honorary President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy
'What a magnificent book! A carefully researched ‘tour de force’, encompassing a history of criminality and madness through exquisitely described stories. It offers hope that one day we might actually rehumanise the dehumanised, making the world a safer place for all.'
— Dr Carine Minne, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy, Portman Clinic and Broadmoor Hospital
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