ABSTRACT
Forensic psychotherapy is a relatively new discipline. It is the off-spring of forensic psychiatry and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Its aim is the psychodynamic understanding of the offender and his—or her—consequent treatment, regardless of the seriousness of the offence. It involves the understanding of the unconscious as well as the conscious motivations of the criminal mind, and of particular offence behaviour. It does not seek to condone the crime or to excuse the criminal. On the contrary, the object is to help the offender to acknowledge his responsibility for his acts and thereby to save the offender and society from the perpetration of further crimes. Gill McGauley (McGauley & Bartlett, 2010, p. 134) adds that in helping forensic patients to understand their minds, it is central to make them aware that they are “inadvertently” contributing to their own difficulties. So, a person’s unconscious mind and its tendency to repeat actions against the person himself and society are being acknowledged.
