Psychology and Law: Evolution and Applications
Legal Origins of Psychology
Clinical Psychology (Psychological Assessment)
Terminology
Forensic: Originates in or before the judiciary.
Legal: Considers the judiciary, law, executive branch, prosecutors, prisons, mental hospitals, police stations, etc.
Historical Facts Linking Law and Psychology
1. Ideals of the French Revolution: Permeated the Napoleonic Code (notion of responsibility) and the birth of psychiatry (both in 1810).
2. Protecting Children and Young People: Originates in Roman law, requiring less severe sentences for children.
3. Influence of Positivism in Psychology (late 19th century): Led to the “psychology of testimony,” aiming to verify the reliability of accounts through experimental study of psychological processes.
Early professional psychology practice focused almost exclusively on expertise, criminological, and psychological opinion surveys (interviews, psychological tests). Reports often echoed societal prejudices, hindering social reintegration and prolonging criminal penalties.
4. Changes Since the 1980s Reflected in Laws:
- Growing social movements for human rights.
- Democratic access to justice.
- Search for conflict resolution outside the judiciary.
5. Changes in Laws:
The 1988 Brazilian Constitution established a new family profile with equality between men and women, eliminating reporting relationships. Justice placed greater responsibility on society to seek solutions, creating Guardianship Councils, encouraging NGOs, family courts, and special courts.
In psychology, this shifted psychological evaluation from mere data collection to interventional diagnosis (1990s), where psychologists share impressions and encourage client participation. This also influenced forensic psychology, moving from a purely clinical approach to incorporating social psychology, research, and academic perspectives.
Changes in Psychologists’ Roles in the Legal Field Since the Late 1990s
Before the 1990s, psychologists’ work was mainly limited to expertise and advice. Now, it includes informing, supporting, monitoring, and guiding cases in various judicial spheres. There’s a new focus on promoting mental health for those involved in legal proceedings and creating conditions to eliminate oppression and marginalization.
Priorities include developing interdisciplinary teams, study groups, case studies, mental health counseling, and integration activities with other professionals (justice, health, education, academia) to broaden service provision and establish partnerships.
This change has increased the appreciation for psychologists’ work, evidenced by the growing number of professionals collaborating with legal operators. Psychologists are increasingly consulted in complex situations, increasing their responsibility.
Neurotic Disorders
Definition
- Indifferentiation processes within the individual causing inadequate perception of reality.
Source
- Long history of defective paternal relationships. Mid-life crises. Poorly managed changes, losses, and failures.
Consequences
- Erroneous assessments of environmental problems, self, and others. Personality immaturity, weakness, and deformity. Serious conflicts with self and others. Personal and social maladjustments. Severe distress. Unhealthy and neurotic defense patterns in stressful situations.
Differences Between Neurosis and Psychosis
- Weak falsification of external reality. Absence of delusions and hallucinations. Absence of violent behavior.
Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders, Affective Disorders, Conversion Disorder, Obsessive Disorders, Eating Disorders, Chemical Dependency, Sexual Dysfunctions.
Anxiety Disorders
- Panic, Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress, Phobia, Insomnia, Generalized Anxiety.
Panic!
- Racing heart, difficulty breathing, shakiness, weak legs. Avoidance of driving and crowded places. Unrelated to lack of courage. Catastrophic onset, disrupts life, but passes with treatment.
Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Common stress can become serious illness.
- Triggered by assault, kidnapping, rape, accidents, diagnoses, serious illnesses, etc.
Social Phobia
- Pathological shyness, potentially disabling. Often unrealized potential due to phobia. May be associated with other mental disorders. More Info
Affective Disorders
- Depression, Postpartum Depression, Dysthymia, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Suicide.
Depression
- Common psychiatric disorder, major public health problem.
- Higher disability degree than hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, chronic low back pain.
- Alters memory, decreases attention, distorts cognition, producing negative self and environmental perceptions. Constant feeling of threat.
Bipolar Disorder
- Serious, chronic, recurrent, disabling mental illness.
- Affect fluctuations, mood swings, personality, thinking, and behavior changes negatively impact relationships.
- Emotional fragility, financial extravagance, sociability fluctuations, sexual indiscretions, violent behavior.
- Disorder, confusion, and conflicts in interpersonal relationships. Disagreements with family, friends, work, and community.
Conversion Disorder (Hysteria)
- Physical symptoms without organic pathology.
- Expression of repressed and diverted sexual energy (Freud) or other conflicts (modern psychiatry).
- Occurrence: Teens, young adults, mostly women, lower socioeconomic and intellectual status.
Obsessive Disorders (Mania)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Kleptomania, Compulsive Gambling, Compulsive Sex, Compulsive Lying, Compulsive Shopping, Trichotillomania, Tourette’s.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
- Characterized by intrusive, involuntary, inappropriate, persistent, and recurrent thoughts, phrases, words, scenes, or impulses (obsessions), often accompanied by distress or fears. Attempts to ignore, suppress, or neutralize them with stereotyped, repetitive acts (compulsions or rituals).
- Compromise daily routines, job performance, and interpersonal relationships due to time consumption, discomfort, or avoidance behaviors.
- Heterogeneous, chronic disorder involving biological and psychosocial factors.
Importance of Psychology to Law
- For human society to function, desires require limits. Humans need control. Law addresses the lack of internalized boundaries, while psychology addresses the madness of limitless desire. Law and psychology are thus intertwined.