Psychological formulation Flashcards
Psychological formulation
So what is it?
• this aims to explain the cause of the person’s behavior by constructing a summary of their life to help decide future developments
which then may lead to individualizing treatments for that person as well
• it’s purpose is to provide a coherent set of potential explanations of the individual’s behavior based in theory that describe and explain why the person has their problem at this time but can usefully inform intervention?
~ kuyken 2006
A fundamental step to ensuring an appropriate understanding of the person’s difficulties and should provide a theoretical framework for guiding management care and treatment
~ Todd et al 2009
It is made from 3 phases
Psychological formulation
Phase 1
Offence Analysis
Offence analysis
• it can be summarised by forensic psychologist figuring out the following:
- what was the offense
- who committed the offence
- when was the offence committed
- how was the offense committed
- why was the offence committed
to answer the last one
this may help:
• forensic psychologists were able to draw conclusions from a similar crimes / offenders in order to identify contingencies (behaviours and issues that go along with the offence)
• they look for criminogenic factors to help explain what events took place, such as: education, employment, life style, drug misuse, attitude and thinking
these are all reasons why the crime may have taken place
• they often do offence paralleling
Which is important to help aid the case formulation of an evaluation of the treatment
It is looking at the behaviour that relates to the offence such as
identifying internal motivations for the crime such as feelings e.g. excitment
Identify external motivations for the crime such as: environment and physical things e.g. money
• psychologists may also look for functional similarity
This is identifying a criminal behavior that shares the same functions
E.g.
When a relationship ends it leads to humiliation
Rape = less humiliation more power
goes to prison = more humiliatiom
so fantasises about rape in prison, so want to it to decrease humiliation
sim reasons for commiting the crune
motivation is sim / same
• flow chart:
Identify criminogenic factors then identify internal motivation then external motivation
then link the internal motivations to crime and look at their symptoms
and think how these factors explain why the crime was committed
Psychological formulation
Phase 2
Risk Analysis + how psy theorys fit in
Risk analysis + how psy theorys fit in
• scenario planning usually takes place in this stage
This is usually done when working with the most violent of cases
this process is done by speculating what might happen in the future with the best case scenario and the worst case scenario
• the best case scenario is usually rehabilitation
• the worst case scenario is usually recividism
• also in this stage
psychologists should speculate how certain psychological theories fit/explain with the criminals behaviour such as SLT
• another example is a rapist may have experienced early abuse themselves so we would apply psychodynamic approach to explain their offending behaviour
this helps us to understand what compels them to do it
Psychological formulation
Phase 3
Application to Treatment
Application to Treatment
• the end goal is to find a treatment based on the conclusions in the previous two stages
E.g. if cognitive is the cause of the Crime than a cognitive treatment would be used
or if Social cause then use a social treatment
• the rehabilitation program should reflect how the offender started (cog cause = cog treatment ect.)
whether they have mental health issues
their risk of re-offending
and how likely the offend is to stick to the program (Readiness = up effectiveness)
This should be reassessed and adapted later as ‘a work in progress’
• due to these rehabilitation programs and treatments being individualized hcpc guidelines attempt to create some kind of standardization such as:
accessibility and communication
and teamwork
and not judging the patient for what they have done
mhm
This is for practicing psychologists only
Psychological formulation
Case formulation
why and when used?
Case Formulation
Why used?
• if the offender has complex problems
• and if the method of treatment to use is unclear
• or standard treatments have failed due to recividism
• if the crime is unusual
• if the offender is not benefiting from the current treatment due to a lack of motivation and readiness which would decrease its effectiveness among other factors
• to help other professionals understand the offender, mabye through a case file or explenation, proffesionals such as: judge, probation officers, social workers etc
When used?
• probation: to create a treatment based on past behaviors and crimes
• mabye in prison rehabs to
• trials for NGRI?
ect.
This is done by reducing the amount of psychological words used as this will confused them
So use qualitative data as it’s easy to understand such as talk abt bad child hood
Psychological formulation
Case Formulation
Overall what is it?
(overview of all stages basicaly, if in rush ignore)
overview of all stages basicaly
Case formulation
• case formulation is how you come to make sense of purposes problems and identify dynamic risk Factors in the offending behavior
• the aim is to explain a person’s difficulties by constructing an individual summary of a person’s life which is used to inform intervention
• formulation needs to include a detailed analysis of the offending behavior
formulation including offense analysis is a key component of risk management leading to:
• design of treatment and interventions to reduce reacting to risk factors
• understanding of warning signs
• identification of behaviors to monitor (including offender paralleling behaviors OPB’s)
• informed victim safety planning and supervision requirements (scenario planning allows for this)
• allows regular review of treatment plans and measure their success
Psychological formulation
Hart et al 2011 basics for formulation
Hart et all 2011 outlined the following basics for all formulations:
• individualised: even though it looks at broader theories in research of offending
the basis of explaining the cause/ treatment must be based on the offenders history and data
• narrative: qualitative data is an easy to understand format so it’s accessible to other professionals such as: judges, social workers and probation officers
( removing psychological words to reduce confusion)
• diachronic: full account from past/ present and predictions on future
Predict recividism based on past behaviors
• Testable: need to measure the impact of cause treatment
this will help further develop the treatment to reduce recividism
idk lol
Psychological formulation
Paul Whitehead Et al 2007
Mr C
Paul Whitehead et al 2007
Report on implemention of Psychological Formularion on Serial Killer Sex Offender Mr. C
• Mr C has a poor childhood experience in which he was exposed to violence and sexual abuse
This would have affected his socialization and therefore he may have developed a more PEN personality and being more aggressive
• partaking in the Gang he was in he may have looked up to them as models as some members were part of their family and therefore would have higher status than them increasing the chances of the being looked up to
Therefore Mr C may be imitating the gangs behavior in a criminal lifestyle such as drug misuse and fighting violently (SLT)
with being socialized in childhood with sexual abuse from the family and in adolescence with sexual abuse from two female prostitutes
Mr C may have been socialized to believe that engaging in non-consensual sex is normal and perhaps even viewed as positive therefore explaining why he has done it, to conform to the social norms that’s he has been socialized with (SIdT ?) ( unnatural way of thinking? may need CBT to sport patterns during cognitive restructuring)
• leaving school the age of 15 and having 20 convictions since age 18, Mr C may be labeled as a criminal and may have internalized this label via seld furfilling prophecy causing him to commit more crimes such as violence and assault
• Mr C was sentenced to 100 hours Cognitive Behavioral Therap
• showing his allegiance to the Gang he attempt to rejoin it but did not nor did he reoffend
• this therefore is an example of how psychological formulation has been an effective method of establishing and individualized effective treatment
• established that Mr C had committed crimes due to cognitive reasons such as his fort processes due to his socialization and therefore was given Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to counter this which was effective at stopping him from re-offending
Psychological formulation
Helps to reduce recividism +
Due to parts of the procedure being to creating individualized rehabilitation program and treatment for the offenders based on their past behaviors in crimes and the reasons they committed it
And by making sure to impose these treatments especially on offenders who have high Readiness to rehabilitate meaning that it would be more effective for them to be on the treatment as in more likely to show improvements
This all means that the highly individualized treatments of psychological formulation are incredibly effective and therefore have high chances of reducing recividism
making them effective
e.g. Mr C from Whitehead et al 2007
Who had 100 hours CBT as a basis of their socialization and allegiance to a gang
He did not rejoin the Gang and did not reoffend showing how it is effective at doing so
Psychological formulation
Retrospective data -
Psychological formulation often use retrospective data which may be gathered from accounts from peers which may be inaccurate as there is no way of 100% confirming that the behavioral description from the peers is accurate
due to their memory maybe being inaccurate
or due to social desirability bias of trying to make whoever they are talking about Justified or give them Sympathy for their actions
Therefore meaning that the data gathered from retrospective data may be invalid therefore leading to an invalid conclusion reducing the link between chords and effect meaning that there is a reduction in internal validity of psychological formulation
Psychological formulation
Objective Quantitive data +
If some of the dates it is based on quantitative data such as test scores that to be individual case or offender has done
Such as possibly a personality quiz or an IQ test etc
as quantitative data can only be objectively interpreted as a low or high school is usually linked to specific behaviors or traits and is incredibly difficult to argue otherwise
Therefore meaning that due to the data collected in this method being objective it would make the this data valid
leading to a conclusion and therefore improving the link between causing effects meaning that psychological formulation would have high internal validity in terms of quantitative data from test scores
Psychological formulation
mainly qualitive data so subjective -
In psychological formulation the main type of data collected is qualitative this is due to it being taken mainly from Case History and retrospective data and interviews
This means that the majority of data collected during psychological formulation can be interpreted differently by different experimenters meaning it is more likely that data may be misinterpretated or there may be a disagreement between experimenters on the meaning of the data
This all means that the data is subjective and therefore may be invalid which would lead to an invaded conclusion which lowers the link between chord and effect results in psychological formulation having a low internal validity
Psychological formulation
McKnight et al 1984 +
McKnight found that psychological formulation was able to predict successful and unsuccessful methods of treatment therefore showing how it has high predictive validity
as it could predict if a treatment would work or not and therefore predict behavior
Psychological formulation
Hart Et Al (2011)
Key Areas of Psych Formulation
Hart et al (2011)
found that for a basic Psychological Formulation to be done
it must be:
• Individualised) even tho it looks at broader theories and research if offending
the basis of Explaining the cause / treatment must be based on the ofenders history and data
• Narrative) Qualitative data in an easy to understand format
this means it is accessable to proffesionals such as judges or social workers, probation officers ect.
so reduce the psychological wording to reduce the level of confusion they may have
• Diachronic) A full account from past/present and predictions on future behaviours
Predict recividism rates based on past behaviours
• Testable) the need to measure the impact of cause and treatment of behaviour
used to accuratly reduce recividism
Psychological formulation
Highly Holistic Method +
(Phase 3 point)
use in Phase 3
a strength of Psych formulation is that it uses the Case study aproach to explore offenders behaviours in detail
via interviews producing individual, Holistic, qualitive data
Triangualtion is also used
e.g. multi-methods: Interviews, psychometric tests which may assess a offenders Iq, cog dissfunction, personality and Mental illness
Also uses Theory Triangulation which explores the offenders behaviour
by exploring it from different psychological perspectives/ apply it to theorys
therefore it allows the production of individualised treatment for an offender
and avoids a one size fits all approach that oftern dominates the rehabilitation of offenders
therefore showing a strength of Psych Formulation
Psychological formulation
It Is difficult to assess the success if Psych formulation -
(phase 3)
Use in phase 3
A weakness of Psychological Formulation is how it is dificult to assess the success of it
this is due to success being assessed via self report methods to offenders to indicate how successful the programme us
reoffending rates would also be annalysed to see how many times offenders reoffend post treatment
however this is not a measure of recividism itself but a mrasure kf reconviction
as some offenders may not be caught
therefire making the conclusion and data invalid
all of this provides The Psychologist with an overview on whether psych formulation correctly predicts treatment and treatment outcomes
However in Self Report methods
offenders may lie about the treatments effectivness (social desirability bias or an attempt to be released)
this therefore shows a weakness in Psych form as it is Difficult to Validily and Accuratly assess the success of the process
Psychological formulation
Quantitive objective data can be produced +
(1st paragraph on purpose and collection of data and why/when its used and such)
(1st paragraph on purpose and collection of data and why/when its used and such)
A strength of Psych formulation is that it produces Objective Quantitive data
in order to do a effective CF
Psychometric testing is oftern used, which are oftern pen and paper self report interventions providing info on the offender directly from the offender
this involves items used to measure personality such as the MMPI, Psychosexual functioning for sex offenders, and general Psychosocial functioning to assess the Psychiatric status
Tests can also be used to assess/ predict whether the offender is likley to respond or reject treatment
this Quantitive data can only be analysised Objectivly and it Difficult to misinterprit
meaning the analysed data accuratly represents the effectivness of the teanmtnent
and it makes tge behaviour of the offender easily measurable and understandable to proffesionals
these factors show the strength of the objective quantitive data collected for psych form
showing good evidence to suport it
Psychological formulation
It is reliant on effective use by Proffessionals -
(1st paragraph on purpose and collection of data and why/when its used and such)
(1st paragraph on purpose and collection of data and why/when its used and such)
Is reliant on effective use by proffessionals
this is a weakenss of Psych Form
due to multidisciplinary practuve there is room for error in using PF to inform outcomes for the offender
Minoudis et al (2013) found thaf even w/ training, Probation officers didnt feel confident wuth all aspects of PF
thus meaning that if it isnt properly used
it will have a limited impact and value in changing the ourcomes of the offenders future behaviours
simply if not done effectivly
PF treatments wont work at decreasing risk of recividism
increasing the risk to society
it is also dificult to train proffesionals such as judges, probation officers ect.
to use PF to the same Effectivness and Efficincy as Psychologists do
increasing the likley hood of ineffective treatment
increasing the risk of Reoffending and risk to society
thus highlighting how this is a weakness of PF and their innefective use by Proffesionals compared to psychologists
as it may be significantly less effective at reducing recividism and predicting behaviours
Psychological formulation
Psychological Formulation us highly Flexible in its nature +
(phase 1)
use in Phase 1
PF is something highly flexable in nature
this is because psychologists may want to reassess the treatment program (which they can due to be being an work in proccess) when new evidence comes alight
this may be from self report data shch as psychometric tets that find NEW CRIMINOGENIC FACTORS
so the treatment is changed to thurther individualise it to these new factors
hopfully reducing recividism with the more personalised the treatment becomes, tending to more and more criminogenic factors
this therefore shows that PF’s treatments can be activley adapted to suit decelopments in the understanding of/ the behvaiours of the Offender
to ensure a reduction in recividism
thus showing a strenth in PF
Psychological formulation
The Case study Approach adopted by PF has its flaws -
Phase 1
Use in Phase 1
The Case study Appriach adopted by PF has its flaws
this is due to having a individualised holistic method
therefore it is likley due to increased contact between the Offender and Psychologist/ probation officer ect.
that a relationship (rapport) is built
therefore it may be more likely the treatment is concluded before the offender has been fully rehabilitated
due to the close rapport that has been built that may make them view improovments in treatment as the offender being fully rehabilitated as a building of Rapport creates Trust in One another
which may lead to a bias being created by this rapport too
these may both lead to reoffending due to incomplete treatment
showing a major flaw and weakness in the methodology of PF
Psychological formulation
Understanding Behaviour of offender leads to the effective treatment and reduction if rates of recividism +
(phase 2)
use in phase 2
Understanding the behaviour of the offender leads to the effective treatment and reduction in recivisism rates
this is demonstraighted in the research done by Whithead et al (2007)
they found that when offenders were allowed input into the formulations, they gained better understanding of their behaviour
and were more likely to work on their goals, making it an effective therapy
e.g
in the case of MR C
provison of Trauma intensive 100 hours of CBT and a violence prevention programme
reduced thurther reoffending which was assessed at 14 months after leaving prison
Therefore showing that when there is an understanding of behaviour of the offender by the offender, it is easyer for them to improve and therefore more likley to show the treatment as effective, reducing recividism as with the case of MR C
evidence showing PF’s effectivness
Psychological formulation
It is hard to develop an effective treatment plan for offenders with such a large amount of qualitative data which can contridict itself
(Phase 2)
Use in Phase 2
It is hard to develop an effective treatment plan for offenders with such a large amount of qualitative data which can contridict itself
as when qualitive data (for example offender interviews) contridict with other qualitive data ( such as accounts from peers/fam members of their life/ past behaviours)
it is difficult to obtain a clear view of the behaviours causes, and thus makes it difficult to plan an individualised treatment plan based on the root of the cause if the behaviour, as this isnt clear
this is likely to result in an ineffective treatment, possibly showed via high rates of recividism, showing a weakness of PF
Or
As due to a large amount of Quant data
if the majority of this data doesnt sugest the same cause of the behaviour, but is indecisive and contridictive
then the confidence in the cause of the behaviour is reduced and an effective and successful treatmebt cannot be devised
showing a weakness in PF
Psychological formulation
incredibly time consuming -
a weakness of PF is how time consuming it is to created a Case formulation of a single offender and the possibly causes of their behaviour
from interview to past accounts of their childhood
and then taking even more time to convert these factors into a treatment plan
this occurs for multiple offenders at the same time
each with their own imdividualised cases and treatments being developed
therefore it may be likely that offenders with shorter sentences would have been released either before the programme or its early stages
therefore reducing its effectivness at reducing the offenders risk of reoffending and increasing the risk to society
showing an overal weakness in Psychological formulation
