When one seeks civil redress for trauma, even a favorable outcome will not likely heal the heart of a plaintiff who has been raped, beaten, humiliated, violated, or treated unjustly. Forensic psychology analyzes human behavior as it applies to the law. The forensic psychologist establishes the merits of a case, then writes a report. Faith, Forensics, and Firearms presents three such cases, providing the author’s forensic analyses and exploring the professional, spiritual, and sociopolitical issues involved from the viewpoints of depth psychology and Christian spirituality.
›A student’s contested application to own a firearm
›The rape of a patient’s wife and the violent death of their son
›The assault of an African American mother by plainclothes police after they refuse to cease harassing her children
Charles Zeiders, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Philadelphia, is T.S. Eliot Lecturer for Humanities and Spiritual Psychology at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, a Postdoctoral Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania’s elite Center for Cognitive Therapy, and Chair Emeritus of the Psychotherapist Specialty Group of the Association of Christian Therapists.
“Forensic psychology is taking the soul into account! Hurray! Charles Zeiders’s book is a well-grounded exploration of matters of psychological and spiritual urgency afflicting victims of crime. It is an enormously important contribution on the part of forensic psychology toward addressing the needs of the soul among people who seek to recover fully from severe trauma.”
—Murray Stein, PhD, author of Soul – Treatment and Recovery
“Dr. Zeiders’s Faith, Forensics, and Firearms reminds us that trauma is not only an emotional and physiological incursion, but a spiritual violation as well. When one’s emotional ‘contract’ with the world is betrayed, then one has to find, as Jung asked, ‘What supports us when nothing supports us.’ These three case studies effectively track the resilience of the human psyche and the resources of the soul in the face of violation.”
—James Hollis, PhD, Jungian analyst and author of Living an Examined Life and other books
Table of Contents
Foreword, by Douglas Schoeninger 7
A Word About Forensic Psychology 9
Introduction 11
1. Faith, Forensics, and Firearms 17
2. A Plight Like Job’s: Trauma, Grief, and Betrayal 45
3. The Citizen Who Sued the Police and the Political Spiritualties of Otherness 81
Afterword, by Dale Michaels 109
Acknowledgments 115
About the Author 116
About the Contributors 117
Sources 118