The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry

by Gwen Adshead

I prefer to think of the mind as a coral reef: ancient, layered, and mysterious, not without shadows and risk but containing a nourishing diversity; it might appear chaotic, but it is a complex and structured ecosystem,

we imprison far too many people, essentially to feed the public appetite for punishment, when only a small percentage of them are too cruel or risky to rehabilitate in the community.

This early experience taught me that no matter what their history, if people are able to be curious about their minds, there’s a chance that we can make meaning out of disorder.

“thinking is hard, that’s why most people judge.”

sometimes we have to lament for what we have done and what is lost in order to start afresh.