Evening star., 1938-05-19

Inc law ana p6ycMatry nave peen
long at odds.
The one has adhered to rather naive,
according to the psychiatrists, classi-
fication Of human conduct and re-
sponsibility. An individual is either
guilty or not guilty. If guilty, he is
either sane or insane. The only Ques-
ton has been where to draw the line
between the two mental states.
This is based on an outmoded psy-
chology, Psychiatrists long have realized
that there is no such clear-cut line
Hence the conflicts of expert testimony
over individual responsibility and de-
sirable degree Of punishment. The posi-
ton of the law is easier to understand
and on the whole the psychiatrist
seems to have come out Of the picture
with none-too-enviable reputation with
the general public. which is not i'm
pressed with his fine-spun distinctions.
For some years past the American
Psychiatric Association has had a COM
mittee on this problem. The chairman,
DR.. Winfred Overholzer, now superin-
tendent of st. Elizabeths Hospital, out
lined some of the aspects of the con-
flict and possibilities of solution in an
address before the Washington Academy
of Medicine few days ago. The law
is becoming more appreciative of the
results of research and more willing to
depart from purely philosophical dis
tinctions. On the other hand, psychiatry
is setting up means of picking an
actually qualified expert through the
American Psychiatric Examining Board.
Consequently, there seems better pros
pect than ever before that the long
conflict will be resolved.
One cannot treat problem in human
conduct, DR.. Overholzer stressed. like
a problem in mathematics to which GER
tain long established formulae can be
applied. There are too many variables
No one man or woman offers quite
the same problem as another man or
woman. This is principal which it
is hard for the law. with its hard
common sense" which often turns out
in the end to be nonsense. to grasp.
There must be gradual breaking
down of barriers before the two profess
sions can stand together on common
ground.
Said DR.. Overholzer: "The principle
still holds generally that for every
quantum of evil done there is measur-
able quantum of punishment, and that
the punishment can be determined in
advance by some mystical formula which
is applicable II one can Classify the
crime. In some States, for example,
there are various degrees not only OF
murder, but Of burglary, larceny, and SO
on, each of which has its predetermined
penalty-a penalty which disregards al
most entirely anything concerning the
makeup of the criminal in question.
1T is only fair to say that when
these doctrines were first enunciated
they were probably reasonably well in
line with the prevailing ideas of the
structure of the mind. The so-called
faculty psychology was then in vogue.
Philosophers, the early psychologists,
believed that the mind was something
quite apart from the body, that it was
compartmented, and that, for example,
reason had little or nothing to do with
the will or the emotions. The develop
ment of modern psychiatry and pSy-
chology has altered completely the pre-
yious ideas entertained as to the nature
of the mind. We have come to realize
the unity of mental processes the tre-
mendous role played by the unconscious
and the emotions, as well as the va
rious conditionings due to physical dis
order, environment, and to a small
extent heredity. While the jurist looks
for q single test for what he chooses
to call insanity, the psychiatrist knows
full well that no such test is possible.
While the jurist looks upon the actor
- Q free agent posssssed OF Q free
- ~ lllellAtk18 SoAHso0 thAt 0oa.