Lecture 6 - Forensic Treatment and the Influence on Criminal Behaviour of adolescents

Question 1

What were the differences of the way of thinking between durkheim and martison?

Answer 1

● Durkheim: Research all over the world; incarceration rates, types of factors that are in a society → What are the countries with the highest crime rates in the world? (e.g. the US). Why do certain types of societies have lower crime rates?

● Martison: Regarding people that commit crimes, there is only one thing you can do, you have to take care of the safety of our society and lock those people up.

Question 2

What are the Forensic Psychiatric Problems?

Answer 2

● What type of risk factors do we find in negative environments: domestic violence; poverty;k gender; peers.
● What is the strongest predictor for committing a crime: parents/close relatives committing a crime is the strongest predictor for one to commit a crime as well.
● A lot of people who experience risk factors do not commit crimes, you cannot blame committing crimes on your environment, but it does increase the risk.
● What are protective factors: caring parents; education; intelligence; support systems; falling in love (with someone, with something, etc.).

Question 3

What are examples of Individual Treatments?

Answer 3

● Aggression-regulation ‘op maat’
● CBT addiction
● Brain4use
● Leer van je Delict (DA)
● So cool
● EMDR
● Schema Therapy
● Neurofeedback

Question 4

What is biofeedback?

Answer 4

Biofeedback
Walking around with a watch that measures your heart rate, skin, and has an app on your phone. If the heart rate goes up the phone will send you a message asking what is going on. In treatment you can use this data to talk about the situation.

Question 5

What is Virtual Reality as treatment?

Answer 5

Training people for hypothetical situations. What can you do? Talking about it and reflecting on it. Reflecting is difficult for some people so through virtual reality it becomes easier.

Question 6

What is Group Therapy?

Answer 6

According to research, not so effective, when young criminal people are together they can also influence each other negatively.

Question 7

What are Systemic Treatments?

Answer 7

Certainly, let’s break down those family-based treatment approaches:

• Functional Family Therapy (FFT)
  • Focus: This short-term therapy (typically 3-5 months) aims to improve family communication and relationships. It focuses on how family members interact and how these interactions contribute to the child’s problematic behaviors.
  • Key Principles:
    
    • Engagement: Building a strong therapeutic alliance with the family is crucial.
    • Motivation: Helping the family understand the need for change and motivating them to participate in treatment.
    • Behavior Change: Identifying and changing the behaviors within the family that are contributing to the problem.
  • Suitable for: Youth aged 11-18 years old with behavioral problems, delinquency, and substance abuse.
• Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT)
  • Focus: This approach addresses multiple risk factors that contribute to adolescent drug use, including family, peer, school, and community influences.
  • Key Principles:
    
    • Family Systems: Recognizes the interconnectedness of family members and how their interactions impact the adolescent.
    • Developmental Issues: Addresses developmental challenges specific to adolescence.
    • Social Context: Considers the broader social and cultural context of the adolescent’s life.
  • Suitable for: Adolescents with substance abuse problems.
• Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
  • Focus: This intensive, home-based therapy targets multiple systems in the adolescent’s life, including family, school, peers, and the community.
  • Key Principles:
    
    • Ecological Perspective: Acknowledges that problems arise from the interaction between the adolescent and their environment.
    • Intensive Services: Provides 24/7 availability to therapists and utilizes a team approach.
    • Family-Centered: Emphasizes the importance of family involvement and support.
  • Suitable for: Adolescents with serious behavioral problems, such as delinquency, violence, and substance abuse.
• Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC)
  • Focus: This program combines family therapy with a carefully selected and trained foster home.
  • Key Principles:
    
    • Therapeutic Foster Care: Provides a stable and supportive living environment for the child.
    • Intensive Family Therapy: Regular therapy sessions are conducted with the child, biological family, and foster family.
    • Skill-Building: Focuses on developing social, emotional, and behavioral skills in the child.
  • Suitable for: Children and adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances who cannot safely remain in their biological homes.

Question 8

What is the path to psychopathy?

Answer 8

ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) → CD (Conduct Disorder) → ASP (Antisocial Personality Disorder) → Psychopaths*
● Antisocial + callous unemotional
○ (Mask of sanity), Superficial, Egocentric, No empathy and remorse, No fear, Stress resistant, Punishment doesn’t hurt, hardly any motivation for treatment.
● Psychopathy Checklist- JV (PCL - YY) from Robert Hare