DIAGNOSTIC USE OF PSYCHODRAMA IN FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY*

Abstract

In those states where there is no court employed psychiatrist, the private practitioner is frequently involved in legal contest to establish criminal responsibility. Such burdens are part of the community responsibility of the aware specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Often he is unwilling to enter into such contests due to the fundamental value system differences between he and his ambivalent court bed-mates, the members of the legal profession, most of whom have recourse to psychiatric testimony as a desperation measure or a calculated ruse to "beat the rap."