ABSTRACT
Being a clinical psychologist in a psychiatric forensic ward presents difficulties in bridging what at times appear to be impassable conflicting situations. The patients suffer from complex and severe mental disorders and mostly have taken part in frightening and disturbing violent events, inflicting pain and causing damage to others in their surroundings. These patients have experienced much trauma in their lives, and often, their impulses have not been safely contained. Most present serious difficulties in giving trust and being helped by another. The therapeutic efforts are rarely perceived as being helpful, and the ward and ward staff are perceived as part of a restrictive, rigid and at times punitive system. In such an atmosphere, the therapist may experience harsh feelings of fear and terror, helplessness and hopelessness, alongside deep wishes to heal and mend. It is important for the clinical psychologist to be aware of these polar experiences, both in the therapeutic setting and when working together with the multi-disciplinary staff in the ward. In this chapter, the author portrays his work in the ward and its complexities, and describes his understandings through a continuous struggle to create a transitional space in such a challenging place, where therapeutic work is indeed possible.
