Justice signified: Naming injustice in the therapeutic space

Abstract In psychotherapeutic practice, trauma—and its resolution—frequently requires some recognition of the role played by injustice. How and to what extent societies and their legal systems choose to provide formal recognition mechanisms in support of resolving traumas will have a direct impact upon the incidence of mental health, crimes and individual and collective values in the wider community. Trauma associated with the legal system itself, or with broader notions such as ‘social injustice’ may invoke consideration of justice, yet the word ‘injustice’ alone does not appear readily in the lexicon of therapeutic modalities in speaking to the ‘everyday’ experiences emerging in the therapeutic space. So much of client trauma derives from an assault upon personal agency, whether by accident or design, and much recovery involves the restoration of agency by at least calling out the fact of injustice and, through therapy, supporting the empowerment of individuals in determining aspects of their own lives and choices. This paper explores the relevance of the words ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’—especially in their relevance to ‘everyday’ experience—in the therapeutic space.