The actor, the act and the environment: forensic psychotherapy and risk

Abstract

The assessment and management of risk is a complex task best achieved by interdisciplinary professional collaboration. This paper discusses the specialist contribution of forensic psychotherapy to this increasingly important area. The assessment and management of risk may be enhanced by psychodynamic understanding of the internal world of the offender patient and the unconscious meaning of the forensic act as well as by psychodynamic examination of the interactions between the patient and his environment.