is whether such people are inherently evil or whether they are sick. my guest today has spent more than three decades trying to treat some of the most violent offenders here in the uk. dr gwen adshead is a forensic psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist, and has worked across a range of secure hospitals, prisons and in the community. why does she urge compassion and understanding for those who many brand as being simply evil? dr gwen adshead, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, zeinab. why did you decide to choose a career where you provide counselling and therapy to people who ve committed acts which many brand as simply being pure evil? well, i first got interested in this career because i was interested in law and ethics. that very interesting question of how should we treat people who ve done terrible things? so i started by assessing those people and giving evidence in court and really beginning to try and understand how people came to commit acts of violence. a
it s the first time in her career the 19 year old has lost the opening match of a grand slam event. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. how should society deal with the perpetrators of horrific crimes the child killers, the serial murderers, sadists and those who commit acts of extreme sexual violence? well, a starting point is whether such people are inherently evil or whether they are sick. my guest today has spent more than three decades trying to treat some of the most violent offenders here in the uk. dr gwen adshead is a forensic psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist, and has worked across a range of secure hospitals, prisons and in the community. why does she urge compassion and understanding for those who many brand as being simply evil? dr gwen adshead, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much, zeinab. why did you decide to choose a career where you provide counselling and therapy to people who ve committed acts which many bra
well, i think we ve made giant strides, actually, in talking about mental health. and i think it s. i think for those of us who have had problems with their mental health, i think it is helpful to just remind people that mental. periods of mental ill health are not unusual in a long and happy human life, and good treatments exist that help to promote recovery. and i can vouch for that. so i think the more of us who have those kind of experiences talk about them, need to do so, if only to highlight how different those cases are where we can t do anything. finally, dr gwen adshead, you know, you ve been a. it s a tough job. i mean, the role of a forensic psychiatrist addresses how a society responds to and treats people who break the criminal law. you know, your work, as we ve been discussing, raises fascinating ethical and legal questions about responsibility, agency and blame. but it s a toughjob, and you ve said your experience. you ve experienced transient fear, sadness or irritation
mentally ill, which, of course, is very unusual. but we found that it actually helps to put people in a group because they can actually talk to each other in honest and authentic ways about what they did and call each other out when they feel that people are minimising or trying to avoid responsibility. but how do you go about assessing whether you ve succeeded or not? when can you release somebody? and ijust cite a case, in 2012, a french psychiatrist, danielle canarelli, was found guilty of manslaughter and given a one year suspended jail sentence because one of her patients hacked an elderly man to death. and the judges said she had committed the grave error of failing to recognise the public danger posed by her patient. although thejudge said, we re notjudging the entire psychiatric profession, butjust this particular case. so you can get it wrong, can t you? well, i think that psychiatrists and all mental health workers are very invested in trying to keep the public safe, as wel
it s the first time in her career the 19 year old has lost the opening match of a grand slam event. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. how should society deal with the perpetrators of horrific crimes the child killers, the serial murderers, sadists and those who commit acts of extreme sexual violence? well, a starting point is whether such people are inherently evil or whether they are sick. my guest today has spent more than three decades trying to treat some of the most violent offenders here in the uk. dr gwen adshead is a forensic psychiatrist as well as a psychotherapist, and has worked across a range of secure hospitals,