E3c3 How a forensic psychologist might help treat offenders Flashcards
Personal conduct therapy
therapy where someone finds their own way of looking at people (their personal constructs) and uses those constructs, not only to see how they judge the people they know but also to measure change after therapy
Treatment programmes forensic psych might develop
Rehabilitation programmes- may use anger management, skills training (learning to interact w/ others, using body language)
one-to-one programmes or group therapy- aims to address behavior of person and psychological needs (e.g anxiety) to make them feel better and manage own behavior more successfully
^ Often works with offenders to reduce risk of them re-offending
Procedure of personal conduct therapy
1) think of 3 people
2) write down one way in which 2 of them are the same and 1 is different
3) repeat several times with different people
Treatment to treat drug abuse
1) substitute drugs
2) monitoring addict’s progress closely, offer support and counselling- probation service provides support and makes sure addict has adequate housing and funding to help prevent them returning to drug abuse
3) reinforcing treatment through therapy
Why does the UK Drug Policy Commission claim that there is not enough evidence of effective drug abuse treatments?
1) abusers return to their community, where they mix with other abusers
2) life pressures- might have led to drug abuse in the first place, + new pressures associated with being an ex-prisoner
Treatment of sexual offenders
1) mandatory that they attend a treatment programme- their progress affects their release
2) if sex offenses thought to have been caused by a biological basis (e.g inherited desires/ brain structure and functioning), then biological treatments likely used, e.g medication: reduce sex drive
3) Cognitive behavioural therapy
^ treatments vary as offenders vary in temperament, reasons and type of sex crime committed
Sex offender problems that may need treating- intimacy problems
poor childhood relationships can lead to loneliness and lack of skills regarding intimacy- can make relationships difficult. Offender may have distorted views of what is appropriate behaviour towards people
Sex offender problems that may need treating- social skills problem
child molesters tend to lack confidence and have difficulty mixing socially. May misinterpret signals from women, and think they are showing interest when they aren’t. Some might think aggression is socially acceptable
Sex offender problems that may need treating- empathy problems
unable to take the view of someone else/ have compassion- especially rapists and child abusers. Offenders shown to confuse fear, anger and disgust. If someone misinterprets signals, they are likely to find empathy hard
Sex offender problems that may need treating- cognitive distortions
if the offender has distorted thinking, they might justify their behavior to themselves
Cognitive behavior for sex offenders
treatment often involves group therapy and cognitive behavioral principles. It changes how they think about something and therefore behave differently
Behavior modification for sex offenders
focused on helping someone change their behavior, not thinking/ Can involve reinforcing required behavior and removing reinforcement of unwanted behavior
