Premium
What am I doing here? Safety, certainty and expertise in a secure unit
Author(s) -
VivianByrne Susan Elizabeth
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6427.00171
Subject(s) - certainty , context (archaeology) , unit (ring theory) , psychology , balance (ability) , engineering ethics , clinical practice , epistemology , social psychology , psychotherapist , medicine , nursing , engineering , neuroscience , paleontology , philosophy , mathematics education , biology
This paper focuses on the potential for using systemic ideas in a forensic mental health unit. It suggests that doing so aids our understanding of common dilemmas, and that it promotes our ability to generate new perspectives when facing a therapeutic impasse. It illustrates some common dilemmas by reference to particular individuals detained in this setting, and examines the limitations of ideas popular in current systemic practice in a context where extremes of clinical experience and theoretical positions are apparent. In particular it explores the role of ‘therapist’ in a system defined by a medico‐legal model and the implications this has for concepts such as responsibility, reality, illness and risk. It specifically attempts to illustrate the perceived usefulness of ideas put forward by Mason (1993) about safety and certainty. The art of balance between clinical and forensic perspectives emerges as extremely significant in managing the many complex and demanding issues which need to be dealt with in this context.