Search results for ‘Subject term:"mentally disordered offenders"’ Sort:
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How are personality disorders related to compliance?
- Authors:
- GUDJONSSON Gisli H., MAIN Nicole
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 19(2), June 2008, pp.180-190.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality disorders, as measured by the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory - III, and compliance, as measured by the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale. A voluntary sample of 58 mentally disordered offenders residing in medium secure units completed both tests. Of these, 54 (93%) met a diagnosis threshold for either a trait or a disorder (50% met the full diagnosis for at least one personality disorder). The most common personality traits/disorders were avoidant, passive-aggressive, dependent, depressive, and paranoid. The presence or prominence of clinical syndrome/severe clinical syndrome was evident in 42 (72%) of the patients. As far as clinical syndromes are concerned, the most common diagnoses were anxiety, followed by drug dependence and alcohol dependence. Compliance correlated most significantly with dependent, avoidant, passive-aggressive, and masochistic personality disorder scores (Axis II), and with dysthymia, anxiety, and delusional disorders (Axis I). These findings support the hypothesis that compliance is more strongly associated with some personality disorders than others, particularly those in Cluster C, and that the primary link with compliance is through anxiety and low self-esteem.
Dangerous and severe personality disorder
- Author:
- DUGGAN Conor
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Psychiatry, 198(6), June 2011, pp.431-433.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
The Dangerous with Severe Personality (DSPD) Programme brought together the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health, Her Majesty’s Prison Service and the National Health Service to deliver new mental health services for people who were considered dangerous as a result of a severe personality disorder. Offenders whose offending is linked to severe forms of personality disorder present complex and difficult challenges across criminal justice and health systems in terms of public protection, meeting their mental health and other needs and for resettlement. The initiative was introduced a decade ago against overwhelming opposition from psychiatrists and others concerned with the implications of extending the public protection agenda through the use of a questionable medical diagnosis. As this initiative is now being scaled down, this article considers the positive and negative aspects of the initiative together with its longer-term legacy. The article concludes that the programme, despite its flaws, had several beneficial effects – namely that the programme drew attention to a previously poorly provided group, and extended it beyond mentally disordered offenders. It also funded much needed research in this area.
Personality disorder: still everybody's business?
- Authors:
- PIDD Frankie, FEIGENBAUM Janet
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Review Journal, 12(4), December 2007, pp.5-12.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article summarises criteria that can lead to a diagnosis of personality disorder before considering the impact on personality disorder of specific interventions and policy initiatives designed to ensure that services respond to need.
One year of court referrals to Tayside Area Forensic Psychiatry Service: a retrospective audit
- Authors:
- MACCALL Callum A., WHITE Thomas, SMITH Helen
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 16(3), September 2005, pp.592-599.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This study seeks to describe the demographic details, offence details, and psychiatric details and outcomes of individuals referred for court reports to the Tayside Area Forensic Psychiatry Service between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2001. Information was extracted by a review of the psychiatric case notes of individuals referred during this period. In all, 232 referrals were received on 172 individuals; 58% of those seen received an Axis I diagnosis while 39% were felt to require inpatient psychiatric treatment. Twelve individuals were considered by the assessing psychiatrist to be unfit to plead and eight were insane at the time of the alleged index offence. One was considered to meet the criteria for diminished responsibility on grounds of mental disorder. A clinically inappropriate placement occurred in nearly 10% of cases, most commonly related to insufficient availability of forensic admission beds. These findings are discussed in the context of the need for expansion of Scottish forensic services to include medium secure units, in line with similar services in England and Wales.
Persecutory delusions and attributions for real negative events: a study in a forensic sample
- Authors:
- CARLIN Patricia, GUDJONSSON Gisli, RUTTER Sue
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 16(1), March 2005, pp.139-148.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
It has been proposed that individuals with persecutory delusions make excessive external attributions of cause for negative events. It remains unclear from empirical research findings whether the externalising bias is also common to other psychotic symptom presentations. Patterns of attribution of blame for offending in a sample of mentally disordered offenders with different symptom presentations were analysed retrospectively from case notes. Attributions were assessed using the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory Revised. External attribution scores were higher in individuals with psychotic symptom presentations compared with non-psychotic disorders. A comparison between those presenting with persecutory delusions and non-persecutory psychosis revealed no significant difference in external attribution scores. An external attributional style is present in individuals with psychosis, but is not specific to persecutory delusions. There is no special role for attributional style in persecutory delusions.
Diagnosing pervasive developmental disorders in a forensic adolescent mental health setting
- Authors:
- TIFFIN Paul, SHAH Parag, le COUTEUR Ann
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 9(3), September 2007, pp.31-40.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article describes how an assessment for pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) may be undertaken in a forensic adolescent mental health setting and integrated into the overall needs and risk assessment. Two case histories are summarised to illustrate the advantages and challenges of using this approach as part of the assessment and management of young people. It is likely that a thorough evaluation of social and communication functioning can contribute to developing effective management strategies for patients with offending behaviours and complex needs.
Assessment of Deaf people in forensic mental health settings: a risky business!
- Authors:
- O'ROUKE Sue, GREWER Gemma
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), December 2005, pp.671-683.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Despite the recent development of specialist services for Deaf mentally disordered offenders, there remains a paucity of research describing this unique population. The evidence base on which service delivery is provided is in its infancy and consequently relies on models and techniques validated within the hearing population. Deaf people have a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, and those who come into contact with forensic mental health services require a service which is suitable to their specific cultural and linguistic needs. Several papers have attempted to describe the characteristics, prevalence, offence taxonomy, and legal issues pertinent to Deaf mentally disordered offenders. This paper attempts to address two omissions in this literature. The first is to bring together a succinct account of what is currently known about Deaf offenders while emphasising what we consider to be the priorities for research in this area. The second is to provide a more detailed account of issues surrounding the assessment of Deaf mentally disordered offenders, as this underpins much of the work carried out with Deaf offenders (e.g., decisions regarding fitness to plead, diagnosis, formulation, intervention, and risk prediction). In doing this we hope to encourage greater synchrony in the research activity and development of Deaf forensic mental health services with the view to establishing an evidence base which is valid for the Deaf population.
Factitious psychological disorders: the overlooked response style in forensic evaluations
- Authors:
- ROGERS Richard, JACKSON Rebecca L., KAMINSKY Patricia L.
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 5(1), 2005, pp.21-41.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia
Forensic psychologists face two formidable challenges in the assessment of feigned mental disorders, not only identifying bogus presentations but also determining their primary motivation. Regarding the type of motivation, factitious presentations are largely overshadowed in forensic assessments by malingering. The study addresses the diagnostic conundrums inherent in distinguishing factitial from malingered presentations. As the first analogue research, it examines two factitious conditions (i.e., dependent and demanding interpersonal styles) and a malingered disability case. Advanced doctoral students in psychology were used because of their sophisticated understanding. They were administered the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) via a simulation design. Contrary to expectations, few differences were found between factitial and malingering conditions on these measures. Of conceptual significance, results indicated that both factitious groups espoused an acute need for treatment. Of clinical relevance, the PAI Defensiveness Index produced moderate to large effect sizes between malingering and factitious presentations. Finally, the SIMS did not differentiate types of feigned condition, although a new index appears promising. (Copies of this article are available from: Haworth Document Delivery Centre, Haworth Press Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580)
Clinical and demographic differences between sexually violent predators and other commitment types in a state forensic hospital
- Authors:
- VESS James, MURPHY Carolyn, ARKOWITZ Steve
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 15(4), December 2004, pp.669-681.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Sexual offenders who are involuntarily civilly committed to a secure state hospital as Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs) appear to differ significantly from other current patient populations. Demographically, SVPs are older and more predominantly Caucasian than other patients. They are less frequently psychotic than patients committed under other state statutes such as those found incompetent to stand trial, not guilty by reason of insanity and mentally ill prison transfers. Another salient dimension which distinguishes SVPs is the degree of psychopathy observed in these patients. As a group, SVPs display only slightly higher levels of psychopathy than other patient groups as measured by the revised Psychopathy Checklist. Yet when considered by offender type, rapists are found to have significantly higher average psychopathy scores than other patients, while child molesters are assessed as having lower average psychopathy scores than most other patient commitment categories.
Psychiatric disorders and recidivism in sexual offenders
- Authors:
- LANGSTROM Niklas, SJOSTEDT Gabrielle, GRANN Martin
- Journal article citation:
- Sexual Abuse a Journal of Research and Treatment, 16(2), April 2004, pp.139-150.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Research on psychiatric morbidity in sexual offenders (SOs) has mostly been based on small, selected samples. The authors studied psychiatric disorders and their relationship with criminal recidivism in a nationwide, representative cohort of SOs. Data on ICD-9 and -10 psychiatric and neurologic morbidity diagnosed during hospital admissions 1987–1997, but prior to sexual offending, were retrieved for all adult male SOs released from Swedish prisons 1993–1997 (N = 1215). Preoffending disorder prevalence and associations between morbidity and criminal reconvictions during a 5-year postdetainment follow-up were explored. Alcohol use disorder was the most frequent diagnosis, followed by drug use disorder, personality disorder, and psychosis. Morbidity requiring admission to hospital was more common in rapists as compared to child molesters. Alcohol use disorder, drug use disorder, personality disorder, and psychosis all increased the risk for sexual recidivism whereas alcohol use disorder and personality disorder predicted violent nonsexual recidivism. Controlling for sociodemographic confounds changed the risk estimates only marginally. Because disorders were identified among only those who had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals as inpatients, underestimation of true prevalence rates was inevitable. However, the findings support psychiatric consultation for improved assessment and management of mental health needs and recidivism risk in SOs.