What is Truth? The Spiritual Quest of Forensic Psychiatry

摘要

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. Be not afraid to thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole.—Ralph Waldo Trine [Ref. 1 , p 111] My title begins with the query put to Jesus by Pilate in John's account of the trial of Jesus (The Gospel of John 18:38). It is a profound question, with obvious importance to the field of forensic psychiatry. Pilate used this question dismissively though, to express indifference to the truth and to the witness and his testimony, revealing the nature of the “hasty affair in which truth is not served” (Ref. 2 , pp 45, 49). But I wish to use this question as a probe, a device to begin to describe the terrain of a spirituality of forensic psychiatry residing within the daily toils of our profession. This exploration requires some definition of spirituality, such that we might acknowledge it when we see it. It also calls for an examination of vocation, the first stirrings of our attraction to truth. It will further entail a deep evaluation of the postures and processes that I will argue occupy the foundation of forensic work: presence, empathy, compassion, and centering. Finally, I will describe how the healing arts might be applied in an interdisciplinary approach to the injuries inflicted on truth in the dynamics of the courtroom. I hope that this sketch will invite further exploration and detailed description. Spiritual exploration is a personal matter; it is about relatedness.sup 3 , 4 /sup An external, anthropological methodology will not serve this endeavor. I choose to approach it from within, as an individual privileged by membership in a group of devoted colleagues, to whom this effort is addressed.