Therapeutical Arrangements in Coercive Treatment: The Case of a Pedophile Inmate in Forensic Psychiatry

Abstract

In this article we look at the power of therapeutical arrangements using the example of a pedophile inmate in a forensic psychiatric clinic. We used contextural analysis to examine the relations emerging in therapeutical work. Our reconstruction shows the multitude of prerequisites for therapeutical conversation and interventions to become efficacious in a situation marked by power, lust, and sanctions. In our work, we utilize discourse analysis, stressing that hegemonic discourse does not exert power on its own. Rather, it is necessary to reconstruct how the relations to oneself and to the world are shaped within specific institutional settings, how they become pressurized, and how they change in certain constellations. Methodologically, we stress the parallels between the analytic stance of FOUCAULT and the systemic-praxeological approach of contextural analysis.