Terror and Wonder: Whose Choice is it Anyway?

Tragedy in its classic form represents the ambiguity of human nature, and explores the tension between the hero's actions and his or her progressive acquisition of self-knowledge. This is where they learn who they really are and what their actions mean in relation to their identity. Similarly, as forensic psychotherapists, we are spectators of the tragic events that get told and re-enacted in the therapeutic process. However, we are also actors, in that we join our patients in the process of uncovering the meanings of their actions. Why did they act the way they did? Who were they trying to destroy? Or, were they actually trying to repair? In being at the crossroad between ethical and political, forensic institutions present many analogies with the Greek tragic phenomenon. Like tragedy, prisons contain those who have enacted society's most obscure phantasies and those who look after them. Both are the source of “terror and wonder”. In this article I use the tragic paradigm to explore the conflicts intrinsic to forensic institutions, as they emerged in the context of a staff support programme in prison.