The use of psychological formulation

Question 1

define Psychological formulation

Answer 1

• a form of diagnosis

- aims to explain the causes of a person’s difficulties by contracting an individual summery or story of a person’s life

Question 2

who conducts psychological formulations ?

Answer 2

forensic psychologists

Question 3

how many phases are there in forensic analysis ?

Answer 3

3

Question 4

what are the three phases of forensic analysis ?

Answer 4

1. offence analysis
2. understanding the function of offending
3. application to treatment

Question 5

what occurs in offence analysis ?

Answer 5

forensic psychologist analyses the offence or offences, to gain insight into the offender’s motivations

Question 6

why is offence analysis difficult ?

Answer 6

because the reasons behind an offender’s motivations are likely to be very complex

Question 7

how do forensic psychologists conduct an offence analysis ?

Answer 7

they refer to similar offences committed by others, to see if there are general factors that are relevant to the case

Question 8

what is meant when psychological formulation is described as idiographic ?

Answer 8

the formulation must relate to the specific offender being analysed, rather than simply looking for an average ‘type’ of offender

Question 9

why is offence analysis useful ?

Answer 9

identifying reasons why the offence happened will allow the forensic psychologist to assess the risk of reoffending and what possible causes can be removed to reduce the risk of reoffending

Question 10

what is understanding the function of offending ?

Answer 10

for some offenders, crime goes past a simple reward system and is more of an addiction - fulfilling a craving or need (hodge et al. 2011)

Question 11

why could understanding the function of offending be useful ?

Answer 11

from a behaviourist perspective, crime may be reinforced as it is rewarding for the individual - e.g., a rapist may be compensating for their own feelings of worthlessness by exercising power over their victims - this could suggest early abuse in individual’s life

Question 12

what is an important end goal for psychological formulation ?

Answer 12

to establish some form of intervention for the offender based on the conclusions drawn

Question 13

what should the rehabilitative programme for the offender be based on ?

Answer 13

it should reflect on how the offending started in the first place, the risk of the offending, and how likely the offender is to stick with the programme (their level of motivation)

Question 14

why is psychological formulation described as a ‘work in progress’?

Answer 14

because the formulation will be reassessed and adapted, based on the success of diagnosis and treatment

Question 15

what is a strength of psychological formulation ?

Answer 15

it can provide insight into particularly complex cases of offending

Question 16

what is the benefit of having a collaboration from the probation service, the police and psychologists in these formulations (strength)

Answer 16

pooling expertise is helpful when deciding the best way forward for an offender, and the different range of possible treatment options - case is managed effectively

Question 17

what is the competing argument for psychological formulation being useful in complex cases ?

Answer 17

• may be a practical problem when trying to make sense of the wealth of information
• some evidence gained about the offender may be contradictory
• means there may be no obvious rehabilitation programme that suggests itself
• hard for psychologist to work this into a clear and structured formulation

Question 18

explain the problem with source bias, within psychological formulation

Answer 18

• information relating to offence analysis and the function of offending tends to be gathered through clinical interviews
• offender’s retrospective of their life (like family life) may be flawed and unreliable
• conclusions will be based on the psychologist’s subjective interpretation
• THIS INTRODUCES BIAS WITHIN THE FORMULATION - MAY IMPACT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SUBSEQUENT DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Question 19

explain the problem with how success is measured, within psychological formulation

Answer 19

• success of psychological formulation is measured on whether the offender goes on to reoffend - using tools such as OFFENDER GROUP RECONVICTION SCORE
• this obscures the fact that most reoffending goes undetected - so it is actually measuring reconviction rates rather than reoffending rates

Question 20

how is the success of psychological formulation measured ?

Answer 20

• measured on whether the offender reoffends

- assessed with tools such as the Offender Group Re-conviction Score (OGRS)

Question 21

what is the problem with how psychological formulation is measured ?

Answer 21

by using tools like Offender Group Re-conviction Score, it obscures the fact that most reoffending goes undetected - what is actually being measured is reconviction rates rather than reoffending (Duwe and Clark 2014).

Question 22

how could the success of psychological formulation be better measured ?

Answer 22

be judged by whether the individual has changed their sense of identity or whether their social circumstances have improved

Question 23

what does the problem with measuring the success of psychological formulation suggest?

Answer 23

it suggests that the effectiveness of psychological formulation should be based on different, and perhaps more valid, criteria

Question 24

what is an application of psychological formulation?

Answer 24

it offers a different approach to reducing reoffending

Question 25

explain how psychological formulation can be applied to reducing reoffending

Answer 25

• the process is mainly about educating the offender as to how they arrived in their current predicament
• if successful, it is likely to lead to reduced reoffending rates in the future (which remain at an all-time high of 70%)

Question 26

what does the application of psychological formulation suggest ?

Answer 26

it suggests that widespread adoption of psychological formulation methodology may help to reduce reoffending