What is Truth? The Spiritual Quest of Forensic Psychiatry
- 1 March 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Vol. 46 (1), 10-22
Abstract
The search for truth is a foundational aim and value of forensic psychiatry. It is also a deeply spiritual exercise. It must, therefore, be possible to describe a spirituality of forensic psychiatry, which I attempt to begin in this article. This exploration opens with a discussion of spirituality and its contexts. I then examine the nature of vocation in its application to medicine, psychiatry and the law. This proceeds to a close evaluation of the attitudes and activities that I will argue occupy the groundwork of forensic practice and form pathways to truth: presence, empathy, compassion, and centering. I then examine some of the forces that harm the expression of truth in the courtroom, and the means for healing those injuries. Concern for the common good, an integral part of my own spirituality, arises repeatedly in this discussion. I conclude with thoughts on the search for truth, in our work and in ourselves, and an invitation to colleagues to imagine forensic psychiatry as a spiritual practice. My hope is that this endeavor will stimulate reflection among forensic clinicians and encourage further inquiry and explication.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- The FICA Spiritual History Tool #274Journal of Palliative Medicine, 2014
- Conceptualizing Compassion as Recognizing, Relating and (Re)acting: A Qualitative Study of Compassionate Communication at HospiceCommunication Monographs, 2012
- Restoration and re-creationCurrent Opinion in Supportive & Palliative Care, 2012
- The Humanistic Clinician: Traversing the Science and Art of Health CareJournal of Pain and Symptom Management, 2010
- Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care: The Report of the Consensus ConferenceJournal of Palliative Medicine, 2009
- Physicians and Patients’ SpiritualityThe AMA Journal of Ethic, 2009
- The Revolution in Forensic Ethics: Narrative, Compassion, and a Robust ProfessionalismPsychiatric Clinics of North America, 2009
- POWs Versus Torturers: Forensic Evaluation of Military Personnel2009
- Teaching Residents about Religion and SpiritualityHarvard Review of Psychiatry, 2003
- Medicine and SpiritualityAnnals of Internal Medicine, 2000