Professor Brett Kahr

Fortunately, most people who attend for psychotherapy have never perpetrated acts of criminality and do not suffer from an overtly diagnosable mental illness. A small cohort of non-forensic patients will, however, commit a variety of offences, none of which constitute a breach of the law of the land but which, nevertheless, cause significant suffering to themselves and to others. In this presentation, we shall explore the psychodynamics of the sub-clinical “non-forensic” patient, concentrating on how and why such individuals function in this quasi-forensic fashion and what impact their unconscious “criminality” might have. We will question whether the definition of forensic psychotherapy might need to be expanded in recognition of the broader range of unconscious sadism that we often encounter in our work.

Video lecture with captions and slides – 35 mins

About the Speaker

Professor Brett Kahr is Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Psychotherapy and Mental Health at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London, and Honorary Visiting Professor in the School of Arts at Roehampton University.