• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Tony White

Psychologist

  • Home
  • Profile
    • Professional History
    • Professional Services
    • About Me
    • Training & Work Background
  • Books
  • Journals
  • Blogs
  • Monograph Series
  • Home
  • Profile
    • Professional History
    • Professional Services
    • About Me
    • Training & Work Background
  • Books
  • Journals
  • Blogs
  • Monograph Series

Psychology of the court process

August 16, 2020 //  by Tony White//  Leave a Comment

A friend recently asked me if I would support her in court, which I agreed to. A person hurt a loved one of hers and I am soon to attend the sentencing with her. She reports that she wants to be there, to see “him go down”. 

Revenge is an interesting emotion, so primal and so basic to human nature. All our Child ego states know about the feeling of revenge as we have all felt it from time to time. 

The Child ego state in us all knows what this feels like. “I got hurt and I want to hurt somebody back”.

 

Firstly this is an issue that does come up for therapists from time to time. When you have a client who has been harmed by another person in some way or they harmed a close loved one and that person is currently going through the legal process. If asked, what should the therapist advise about this issue so as not to suffer psychologically from it. To end up worse off.

My view is usually that the courts and the legal process simply exist to answer a legal question. That’s all. They have no therapeutic goal. They don’t pretend to, they don’t claim to and they don’t try to have a therapeutic aim. A court is simply a court, it is not a therapy room.

The problem is people sometimes attribute a therapeutic goal to the court. If that happens then the person can end up psychologically worse off at the end of it.

“I will get my day in court”, with the underlying meaning being that this will be therapeutic for me.

“I will finally get justice”, with the underlying meaning being that this will be therapeutic for me.

Often these things do not happen in the legal process

So my advice is do not connect your psychological well being to what might happen in the court process. Do not connect your psychological well being to what you hope might happen in the court process. The court does not exist for your psychological well being, it is simply there to answer a legal question.

“With the outcome of the trial I will finally get resolution”. No you won’t. It certainly wont give you emotional resolution even if the result is something that you like.

Even if the sentence is a long one that will not make the feelings of anger at the person and feelings of revenge go away. That is a separate psychological process. That is achieved by what the Gouldings called dropping a feeling. This is a very good skill to possess and a skill which therapists are well advised to encourage clients to have and to help their clients master. Even if a sense of justice is felt by the client after the court finishes that will not get them to drop the feelings they have, usually of anger and revenge. That is achieved by going through the dropping feeling process that the Goulding’s devised. 

Of course, many, if not most never do this after a trial finishes and the feelings of anger and revenge simply erode away at the person’s psychological health and often negatively impact their close relationships with friends and family. The person ends up worse off.

Category: All Blog PostsTag: anger, child ego state, revenge

Previous Post: « Psychic organs to ego states
Next Post: Embrace the homeless »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Website Re-build

The website is being rebuilt at the moment. Thank you for your patience and many apologies for any inconvenience.

Recent Posts

  • Deconfusion of the Child ego state
  • Deconfusion of the Child ego state
  • How I became a child psychotherapist
  • Consent and power in relationships.
  • Silence and the unconscious – Part 2
  • Silence and the unconscious
  • Silence in psychotherapy
  • Permission and redecision
  • Mature love, immature love and the teenager
  • Embrace the homeless
  • Psychology of the court process
  • Psychic organs to ego states
  • Regression – defence mechanism & natural human process
  • Two types or levels of life script change
  • Identification – Post 2
  • Identification – Post 1
  • Self control. Therapeutic implications
  • Adult ego state strengthening – Post 4
  • Adult ego state strengthening – Post 3
  • Adult ego state strengthening – post 2

Recent Comments

  • Irina on Social development – History taking
  • Joseph on How I became a child psychotherapist
  • Kahless on The Demon sub personality (Aka Lillith)
  • Kahless on How I became a child psychotherapist
  • Kahless on Consent and power in relationships.
  • Tony White on Consent and power in relationships.
  • Kahless on Consent and power in relationships.
  • Kahless on Silence and the unconscious – Part 2
  • Kahless on Silence and the unconscious
  • Kahless on Silence and the unconscious

Blog Archive

  • December 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • August 2013

Copyright © 2023 · Mai Lifestyle Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in