Psychological Case Formulation - Case Study

Question 1

What are the 2 parts of case formulation?

Answer 1

1) Offence analysis

2) case formulation

Question 2

Describe what happens in the first stage of psychological case formulation.

Answer 2

• The crime committed is analysed by breaking it down into what happened and why
• The behaviour of the offender is also analysed
• It provides insight into the offender’s thinking
• It also looks at how likely the offender is to re-offend, what intervention they would benefit from, and their risk to themselves and society

Question 3

What methods are used in offence analysis?

Answer 3

• Psychometric testing

- Interviewing

Question 4

Describe what happens in the second stage of psychological case formulation.

Answer 4

• Case formulation helps to form the most effective treatment plan for the offender
• Helps to educate the offender on their issues
• In the report of treatability, likelihood of re-offending, and risk assessment it considers vulnerabilities of the offender such as mental health
• There is no standardised approach to this however the HCPC guidelines provide some structure that can increase this
• They tend to be brief providing coherent information that is supported by data

Question 5

What methods are used in case formulation?

Answer 5

• Psychometric testing
• Interviewing
• Secondary data from previous similar cases
• The history of the offender

Question 6

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate an ‘evidence’ point.

Answer 6

P - McKnight et al (1984) supports
E - Found that case formulations were able to predict which treatments would be effective
E - Therefore demonstrating the accuracy of case formulation and its predictions

Question 7

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘how’ points.

Answer 7

P - High validity
E - Data focuses on the behaviour of the offender with treatability, risk assessment and recidivism
E - Therefore provides holistic and in-depth video of the offender due to the qualitative data gathered
P - Low validity
E - Data gathered is self-report and relies upon the offender being able to remember the crime
E - Therefore there may be elements of social desirability and unreliability of memory that affects accuracy of data due to being subjective

Question 8

Are there any applications?

Answer 8

P - Yes
E - Case formulation is beneficial to an offender as it aims to treat and educate them on their issues to help return them to society
E - And so may help to reduce likelihood of re-offending

Question 9

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘criticisms’ points.

Answer 9

P - Limited
E - Some individuals may have a disorder that is unknown to them and therefore goes unreported, such as XYY syndrome
E - This limits the range of information the psychologist can access
P - Hard to assess effectiveness
E - Formulation is not standardised and is based on the interpretation of the psychologist
E - Therefore we can’t make accurate comparisons due to the element of subjectivity