ABSTRACT
To cure a patient in a state of mania, Nysten considered that they should be “confined to a dark space, to prevent any stimulus from clouding the senses”. One of the many advantages of coming from a long line of physicians is that, in any fleeting, solitary moment of leisure, you can immerse yourself in the legacy of medical literature handed down from generation to generation, and lovingly safeguarded over the last three centuries. The good faith of the distinguished authors in wanting to convey their knowledge of the psychiatric symptomatology is evidently clear and manifest. However, from a legal and psychopathological perspective, it is completely unfounded given that said images can be detached from the way they are consistent with these individuals or patients having mental disorders. Forensic psychology poses a major challenge in terms of what evidential images relate to. Behavioral motivation or intent is not known, and neither is the mental state of the alleged perpetrator.
