ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some aspects of decision-making processes. The professional network making the decision must be collaborative and integrative, capacities so often absent in the parents and families of the psychopath. Occupational therapists (OTs) explore and develop the practical capacities of the patient to engage in everyday living. The psychologists' role is to categorize, calibrate, and offer a psychological model of the patient's mind and their behaviour; where possible, they engage the patient in psychotherapy of whatever theoretical persuasion. The superego in the psychopath has long been recognized as being distorted and deficient. The papers by Murphy, and Slovic, Finucane, Peters, and MacGregor look at the way decisions about dangerousness are made and conclude that such judgements are fundamentally influenced by "gut feelings". It has been commented that gut feelings become more important in "grey" cases where the judgement is far from easy.
