Forensic Focus – serie

This book looks at what happened when the government of Victoria, Australia, enacted special legislation to detain one person with a severe antisocial personality disorder on the grounds of his presumed dangerousness, despite the fact that he did not fit within the ordinary criteria of mental illness or criminality. In doing so, it interfered with the law's protection of civil rights and also with professional distinctions between a certifiable mental illness and the broader concept of mental disorder. The ensuing legal processes highlighted the ambiguous, contingent and negotiable nature of the boundary between badness and madness.The issues raised by this case transcend a government's singular action, highlighting matters such as the duty of care in a forensic setting; diagnostic uncertainties; debates about treatment; the responsibility of politicians to protect the community; and the difficulties inherent in translating clinical concepts into an acceptable legal format. Neither Bad Nor Mad analyses the interaction between psychiatry and the law in an absorbing account of one case with extensive ramifications.

Violence and Mental Disorder takes the debate about violence into new territory by increasing our understanding of the wide range of factors associated with the commission of violence. This comprehensive and critical review of the literature is intended for a broad audience, including clinicians, researchers and policy makers working in this complex area. It is a much-needed resource for mental health professionals whose day-to-day work involves assessing and managing those thought to be at risk of engaging in acts of violence.

Personality Disorder (PD) is one of the most difficult psychological conditions to classify and treat and in the past literature on the subject has tended to neglect the invaluable viewpoint of sufferers themselves. Drawing on extensive research carried out in conjunction with service users, Heather Castillo seeks to adjust this imbalance and looks at the classification and treatment of PD from the service users' viewpoint. This book emphasises the need for health professionals to reassess their approach to the condition and allows those with PD to effectively define themselves and their illness. With a wide range of case study material and analysis, this book is essential reading for mental health professionals, workers in the voluntary and forensic sectors and service users themselves.

John Woods presents a theoretical approach and practical suggestions for mental health practitioners working therapeutically with young people who have abused. Drawing on his long-standing experience, he has developed an integrated theory that bridges the gap between existing cognitive behavioural and psychoanalytic approaches. He shows how this individual treatment model can be applied in a range of contexts including residential settings, group and family work, as well as in individual work.In-depth case studies throughout the book demonstrate how exploring the individual's whole life-course within a psychoanalytic framework enables connections to be drawn between possible childhood abuse and subsequent abusive behaviour. Guidelines are presented on working with the problems of self-destructiveness, masochism and depression facing the young abused/abuser and the impact of sexual abuse on sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation. This is an instructive and thought-provoking text for all mental health practitioners and allied professionals working with adolescents who sexually offend.

As a psychodynamic theory of both normal development and psychopathology, attachment theory has particular utility for forensic psychiatry. A Matter of Security provides an attachment theory based account of the development of arousal and affect regulation, which offers a new way of thinking about mental disorders in offenders. This book also discusses the development of personality in terms of interpersonal functioning and relationships with others, which is essential to understanding both interpersonal violence and abnormal personality development. Attachment theory also offers a model of therapeutic work with patients that have particular resonance with forensic work because it uses the language of security. This collection focuses on attachment theory applied to forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy.

A pressing need for the integration of current practice, research and service development is addressed in this comprehensive book, which explores the experience of work with women in secure mental health settings.The first section offers different perspectives on the needs and situations of this minority population. It includes consideration of the differing needs of women and men, and key environmental and therapeutic issues highlighted by recent research and service provision. Further chapters cover clinical illustrations of work with women in different settings, including descriptions of integrated multi-disciplinary practice, discussion of the experience of female patients and staff on a mixed sex ward, and exploration of therapeutic groupwork. The final section offers practice guidelines and frameworks for both individual staff and professional teams. At a time when the government's national agenda for mental health has focused on specialist secure provision for women, this book is essential reading for all those working in this challenging area.

Sexual Offending and Mental Health draws together theoretical, clinical and mental health issues for the range of professionals working in the community and in-patient settings with sex offenders and those who have behaved in sexually inappropriate ways.The contributors describe current influential models of sexual offending and the developmental, psychological and social factors involved. They discuss the prevalence of personality and mental disorders in known sex offenders and the impact these disorders have on their treatment and management. They describe clinical work with individuals, their partners and families, and also consider the impact of this work on professionals. The book includes an outline of current approaches to risk assessment, an overview of the recent changes in legislation in England and Wales, and suggestions for multi-disciplinary management in the community.This book will be essential reading for professionals working in health or criminal justice settings with people who have committed sexual offences or whose sexual behaviour has caused concern for others.

Personality Disorder offers a comprehensive and accessible collection of papers that will be practically useful to practitioners working in secure and non-secure settings with patients who have personality disorders.This book brings together fourteen classic papers, which address the impact that working with personality disorder patients can have on staff. It also offers theoretical explanations for personality disorder, and explores other issues such as the concept of boundaries in clinical practice, psychiatric staff as attachment figures and the relationship between severity of personality disorder and childhood experiences. Each paper is introduced with contextual material, and is followed by a series of questions that are intended to be used as educational exercises.This book will be essential reading for clinical and forensic psychologists, psychiatrists, community psychiatric nurses, social workers and students.

Working in any area of mental health nursing presents complex issues regarding the nurse-patient relationship. For those working in prolonged clinical contact with offenders, relationships with patients and colleagues can be particularly emotionally intense and sometimes difficult to express. This book attempts to understand and articulate the emotional labour of forensic nursing and explores the challenge of establishing and maintaining therapeutic relationships with offenders. The first book to consider the emotional and relational component of forensic mental health nursing, the chapters cover a number of specialist forensic areas from this psychodynamic perspective, such as women's services, services for people with personality disorders, intensive care, high security psychiatric hospitals, medium secure units and services for adolescent offenders. A chapter on therapeutic communities is also included, along with chapters on challenging relational phenomena such as working with hate and the difficulties of managing difference when working in environments that produce high levels of anxiety. Therapeutic Relationships with Offenders provides essential information for mental health nurses working in the forensic field and will be of interest to any professionals working with challenging populations and people with personality disorders.

People who use forensic mental health services are defined by the fact that they have violated boundaries, often in many ways. For clinicians employed to work therapeutically with this client group however, the capacity to initiate and maintain boundaries is critical to safety as well as to good treatment outcomes. This book provides a thorough introduction to the subject of professional and therapeutic boundaries and their particular complexities within forensic mental health settings. The contributors, all experts in their respective fields, address the challenges of establishing working boundaries within forensic mental health services from multiple perspectives. They explore the ways in which boundaries can be initiated and maintained in different areas of forensic mental health work, including in psychotherapy, mental health nursing, arts therapies, forensic psychiatry and family therapy, and when working with different client groups, including children and adolescents, offenders with severe personality disorders in high security settings and sex offenders. Consideration is also given to boundaries and homicide, maternal boundary violations and boundaries in a forensic learning disability service.This authoritative, interdisciplinary resource will support all forensic mental health practitioners in this crucial aspect of their work.

Adolescents with developmental disabilities are a complex population who require specialised treatment and care. This interdisciplinary text examines the processes involved in working with this client group in forensic settings, and explores the ways in which their needs differ from those of other young people who engage in high risk behaviour or offending. The book covers assessment, intervention and treatment options for adolescents with a wide range of developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders, acquired brain injury, developmental traumatology, and complex comorbidities. It describes the obstacles, challenges and opportunities to consider when working with this population, and the role played by various professionals, including forensic psychiatry and psychology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, education, art psychotherapy and social work. The book also outlines the issues to consider when working in secure and community settings as well as the legal aspects of working with this client group, and the complex issues surrounding risk assessment. The first comprehensive account of forensic issues in adolescents with developmental disabilities, this book will be an indispensible primary resource for a wide range of professionals, including child and adolescent psychiatrists, community psychiatric nurses, developmental paediatricians, social workers and youth workers, lawyers and advocates.

This groundbreaking book explores the psychodynamics and socio-politics of the forensic therapeutic milieu, addressing some of the most difficult and complex issues facing practitioners. It sets out a psycho-social framework for understanding the predicament and the needs of those who live in and those who work in forensic mental health settings. It brings to life the thinking of those working on the frontline in an increasingly difficult and hostile environment, and draws together fresh and stimulating approaches to engagement with highly complex individuals who present challenges to traditional models of psychiatric assessment and treatment.Contributors with considerable clinical experience and expertise from a range of disciplines consider the ethical, emotional and intellectual challenges of their work, and describe ways in which genuine containment and change can be achieved despite numerous perceived assaults on therapeutic relationships, and on the therapeutic milieu itself. Combining clinical case studies with organisational perspectives and clear descriptions of theoretical processes, they explore key issues including the challenges of maintaining role-appropriate, 'boundaried' relationships; the tensions between public protection and individual confidentiality; questions of risk and responsibility; duty of care and respect for individual liberty; the challenges posed by inter-professional tensions and rivalries; as well as specific clinical dilemmas. The difficulties they experience in fulfilling specific therapeutic roles in the face of uncertainties about the funding and commissioning of their services are addressed, and the final part of the book outlines some of the ways in which individuals, particular services and whole organisations may protect themselves when under attack.This unique and highly original book is essential reading for all those working, or training to work, in both forensic and non-forensic inpatient therapeutic milieux and for academics and lay readers interested in the societal dynamics of inclusion and exclusion that are replicated and magnified in these settings.

Widely regarded as the definitive work on forensic psychotherapy, this major compendium is now also published in paperback in one volume.This compendium of forensic psychotherapy brings together the contributions of over sixty authors and covers all aspects- both theoretical and applied- of this currently crystallizing field.

Forensic Psychiatry has expanded exponentially in the last twenty years with a dramatic increase in forensic psychiatry posts and medium secure unit beds. More recently there has been increased concern with the treatment and management of mentally ill offenders which has led to more interest in understanding. Treatment is seen by many people to be of great importance, hence the formation of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy, and the founding of the first diploma in forensic psychotherapy at the Portman Clinic, London. This practical text book is written for all professionals involved with people who break the law.

Prison Theatre describes the rich variety of programmes of theatre with offenders. This multi-disciplinary volume informs debates both in the criminal justice system and in discussion about the role and function of theatre. The contributors explore a wide range of topics within this diverse field, including:- working with women prisoners and with people with learning difficulties- dramatherapy with violent offenders- prison theatre work in Brazil- theatre work with young offenders- dramatic intervention in probation services and with ex-offenders.This is a stimulating and thought-provoking book which will provide valuable reading for practitioners, professionals and students across the fields of the arts therapies, criminology and criminal justice, psychology and performing arts.

This international collection by leading forensic psychotherapists explores topical policy and practice issues. The innovative Dutch system of treatment for forensic patients is described in detail through several chapters, and the place of treatment within and in relation to the criminal justice system, a topic of particular current concern, is explored. The importance of the setting for treatment, inpatient or outpatient, voluntary or compulsory is the topic of other chapters, and the question of what makes a patient suitable for treatment is a theme that runs throughout the book.The book will be of interest not only to practising and trainee forensic psychotherapists, but also to those managing secure as well as outpatient settings, policy makers, probation officers, academics, and members of the legal profession.

Remorse, or rather the lack of it, frequently features in banner headlines. But there is little systematic study of this important inter-disciplinary topic whose relevance has extensive social ramifications. Should a show of remorse by an offender be taken into account in sentencing? Is there a correlation between the experience of remorse and a diminished likelihood of re-offending? And is there a correlation between the experience and the expression of remorse? Such questions, and the complex relationship between remorse, shame, guilt and attempts at reparation, are discussed in this authoritative work.This volume is the first comprehensive attempt to bring together both forensic clinicians and those working within the criminal justice system. There is also a series of chapters by those writing from the adjacent complementary disciplines of moral philosophy, classics, Shakespeare studies, sociology and anthropology.

Remorse, or rather the lack of it, frequently features in banner headlines. But there is little systematic study of this important inter-disciplinary topic whose relevance has extensive social ramifications. Should a show of remorse by an offender be taken into account in sentencing? Is there a correlation between the experience of remorse and a diminished likelihood of re-offending? And is there a correlation between the experience and the expression of remorse? Such questions, and the complex relationship between remorse, shame, guilt and attempts at reparation, are discussed in this authoritative work.This volume is the first comprehensive attempt to bring together both forensic clinicians and those working within the criminal justice system. There is also a series of chapters by those writing from the adjacent complementary disciplines of moral philosophy, classics, Shakespeare studies, sociology and anthropology.

This book consists of a series of assessments designed for professionals working with mentally disordered offenders and clients with challenging behaviours. It is written for psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, probation officers and professionals involved in court diversion schemes and is for use both before and after admission. Clearly laid out, and taking a holistic approach, each section focuses on a specific topic, giving the practitioner a tool that will capture essential and relevant information and enabling care teams to develop a comprehensive and consistent management strategy. Comprehensive in scope, users can select from the more specific sections those appropriate for use with particular clients. Forensic issues are covered as well as those for general use. This is a practical and user-friendly book; it contains the detail to ensure an accurate, objective assessment and is designed to adapt to each user's particular needs. The format allows and encourages additions to give a complete picture of the individual. Already extensively tested, this material is in current use.

The management of the secure psychiatric services is under increasing scrutiny. In Managing High Security Psychiatric Care the contributors examine the management of these services in the light of their experiences and involvement with the Special Hospitals throughout the lifetime of the Special Hospitals Service Authority.The book illustrates the problems faced by the Special Hospitals and the techniques and action employed to effect major change in these large, enclosed institutions. It illustrates the difficulties and obstacles encountered and focuses on themes which dominated and influenced management and clinical initiatives. Key messages that emerge include close collaboration between managers and clinicians, planning and delivering real change in institutional settings, challenging and restructuring unacceptable attitudes influencing the wider debate about care for mentally disordered offenders.The book provides a realistic description of the role and purpose of the High Security Psychiatric Service and the key dilemmas it still faces. It also makes suggestions concerning the direction any future service needs to pursue.The book will be of interest to all those involved in the forensic psychiatric service, other large, closed institutions, and the Criminal Justice system.

Widely regarded as the definitive work on forensic psychotherapy, this major compendium is now published in paperback in one volume.This compendium of forensic psychotherapy brings together the contributions of over sixty authors and covers all aspects - both theoretical and applied - of this currently crystallizing field.

The contributors to this wide-ranging volume are experts from a range of psychiatric, criminal justice, legal and ethical backgrounds, and, uniquely, include patients who recount their own experience of forensic care settings. They examine and explore the central theoretic issues, such as culture, power, difference and participation, and relate them to examples of current practice, and to the improvement of future service provision. They identify techniques and approaches which will improve care and treatment.Race, Culture and Ethnicity in Secure Psychiatric Practice: Working with Difference. provides essential information and analysis which exposes society's view of minorities and the influence these views may have on care professionals working in psychiatric and criminal justice systems. It suggests practical steps for improvement to ensure a more equitable and culturally sensitive service provision.

The chapters are a rich contribution of cross-cultural thinking on the many dilemmas and challenges facing nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists and other health care practitioners, working with specific client groups. Each contributor has utilised empirical data to analyse relevant issues, such as: professional standards; effectiveness of preparation for nurses working within secure environments; day to day and long term challenges facing nurses; clinical effectiveness; the dilemma of security versus practice; how forensic nursing differs from other kinds of nursing; and what forensic nurses can contribute to other mental health care disciplines. Examples of how research findings may be integrated into practice, will be of interest not only to forensic nurses, but also to significant sectors of the mental health care field.

Working with Sex Offenders in Prisons and through Release to the Community is the first study of its kind to look at a wide range of issues and problems relating to the management of sexual offenders in prisons and their reintegration into the community. Spencer's analysis of the delivery of prison-based offence-specific programmes, both within the broader context of criminal justice systems and the community provides valuable insight into the relationship between prisons and other agencies dealing with sex offenders. Spencer makes a strong case for implementing treatment for sexual offenders within prisons, as well as the need for support and supervision in the community once released. His multi-agency approach is an innovative and cohesive strategy for effective interventions, and highlights major issues which need to be addressed so that programmes stand a chance of succeeding in a penal setting.The issues involved in the setting up of programmes, the creation of the right environment, and the support and training of staff, are universally applicable; as are discussions of risk assessment, the links between victims and offenders, sex offenders in special hospitals, women as sex abusers, the use of pornography and sexual offender notification. This book is essential reading, not only for specialists in the field, but also for students and professionals working in related areas.

Violent crimes committed by the mentally disordered attract academic and public attention. They raise issues of moral responsibility and public protection. This study systematically analyses the principles underlying those legal and medical devices which enable the courts to make special arrangements for the mentally disordered.Buchanan examines three fundamental precepts in criminal law: justification, excuse and mitigation. A defendant who has been proved guilty can usually have his or her sentence reduced only where one of these three principles applies. The way that the courts interpret notions of responsibility and choice may influence the outcome considerably. For mentally disordered offenders, the matter becomes even more complicated - this is where the psychological and psychiatric aspects of justification, excuse and mitigation come into play. The author combines a jurisprudential analysis of the above with a discussion of current legal provision for mentally disordered offenders in England and America. This thought-provoking book will be of particular interest to a wide range of professionals in the forensic field, as well as to academics specialising in mental health law and the philosophy of psychiatry.

James Gilligan lays the foundation for a complete re-thinking of the nature and meaning of violence in society. He reveals the motives of men who commit horrifying crimes, men who not only kill other people, but also destroy themselves rather than suffer shame and loss of self-respect.He focuses on how feelings of shame cause violent and vengeful behaviour, and argues that conventional punitive legal and penal systems which are based on notions of justice and retribution perpetuate violent behaviour. He was called in to the Massachusetts prison system because of the high rates of suicides and murders within state prisons there; when he left these rates had dropped almost to zero. This keenly argued and ground-breaking book is essential reading for everyone touched by violence, and all those who are working to prevent it and its consequences