Dr Celia Taylor

Working with people with antisocial or psychopathic personality disturbance can have a profound impact on clinicians. Many of the offences committed by these individuals are of a highly sadistic kind and therefore traumatic to hear about and process, leading to angry and punitive responses. On the other side of the coin, some staff identify strongly with the victim within the offender, since childhood histories of appalling abuse and disrupted attachments are common. Team splitting and conflict frequently ensue, thus undermining the best efforts at treatment. This talk will consider the dynamics impacting on teams’ ability to function together in this work, and what measures can be taken to mitigate these effects.

Video lecture with captions and slides – 47 mins

About the Speaker

Dr Celia Taylor trained in Forensic Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and in 1995 went on to work as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at Broadmoor Hospital. She then established a medium secure personality disorder service in the private sector, before moving to East London NHS Foundation Trust in November 2003 to establish Millfields Unit on the campus of the John Howard Centre in East London.