y Professor Brett Kahr
Professor Brett Kahr published his fifteenth book earlier this year, entitled Dangerous Lunatics: Trauma, Criminality, and Forensic Psychotherapy (Confer Books, 2020; https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/dangerous-lunatics-trauma-criminality-and-forensic-psychotherapy/95053/).
One of the inaugural titles released by the new psychotherapeutic press Confer Books – Publishers of the Mind – this book examines the nature of criminality across the centuries.
Drawing upon his interest and training in both psychoanalysis and history, Kahr examines the ways in which our ancestors have treated criminal offenders from ancient times until the present day, exploring the growing humanisation of forensic mental health.
In olden times, criminals would be tortured and executed; fortunately, nowadays, many countries have adopted a more compassionate approach to treatment and rehabilitation, facilitated by the developments in the fields of forensic psychotherapy and forensic psychoanalysis, which offer in-depth, ongoing treatment, in an effort to help offender patients to work through the traumata which have propelled them to commit violent crimes.
This book reached the Number One spot on the Karnac Books best-sellers list shortly after its release.
Herewith we include the Table of Contents for interested parties, as well as kindly endorsements from two of the United Kingdom’s leading forensic psychoanalytical specialists:
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Introduction.
The Man Who Shot His Mother and Father in the Face.
Chapter One.
Torture and Execution: Ancient Remedies for Perpetrators.
Chapter Two.
The Medicalisation of Insanity: Hereditary Taint and the Criminal Brain.
Chapter Three.
The Freudian Challenge: Towards a Humanisation of Offenders.
Chapter Four.
The Growth of Forensic Psychotherapy: From Punishment to Treatment.
Chapter Five.
Paedophilia: The Sexualisation of Trauma.
Chapter Six.
Murder: The Castration of Safety.
Conclusion.
Blue-Sky Thinking: The Future of Forensic Mental Health.
ENDORSEMENTS.
“Only Brett Kahr could produce such a masterpiece as Dangerous Lunatics. Written in a stunning literary style, Kahr’s book combines his unique expertise as a clinician and as an historian to tell this vital tale about how we have treated criminals throughout the ages and how we might do much, much better in the future!”
Professor Estela V. Welldon, Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Portman Clinic, London, and Honorary President for Life of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy.
“What a magnificent book! A carefully researched ‘tour de force’, encompassing a history of criminality and madness through exquisitely described stories. It offers hope that one day we might actually rehumanise the dehumanised, making the world a safer place for all.”
Dr. Carine Minne, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy, Portman Clinic and Broadmoor Hospital.