Embracing Vulnerability In The Midst Of Danger: Therapy In A High Secure Prison
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65828/m187ms25Keywords:
Prison, offending, personality disorder, trauma-focused, psychological treatmentAbstract
Within British society, a clear need to dehumanise offenders and see them as 'other' hampers efforts to rehabilitate. Difficulties in perceiving the vulnerability of those who are incarcerated, even by psychologically-trained staff who work within prisons, shape the interventions that are available to prisoners and may prevent innovation that could enable therapeutic growth and ultimately reduce risk. This paper explores how a willingness to engage with the prisoners' vulnerability in terms of their traumatic histories leads to significant higher levels of disclosure about childhood trauma and adversity and the opportunity to deliver meaningful therapy to men who are hard to reach and frightened to engage. The paper describes how one service based in a high secure prison is able to overcome barriers to participation in treatment by adopting a trauma-focused approach.
Complete access to the full archive of articles is available with SEA membership. Existing members: please log in with your membership password to view full text. Non-members can buy a single article or issue by registering an account on this website, then selecting a padlocked full text button to purchase.
References
Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin. 117, 497-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497
Dahms, A.M. (1972). Emotional Intimacy. Boulder: Pruett Publishing Company.
Lambert, N., Stillman, T.F., Hicks, J.A., Kamble, S., Baumeister, R.F., & Fincham, F.D. (2013). Belong is to matter: Sense of belonging enhances meaning in life. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. 39, 1418-1427. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213499186
McVey, D. & Saradjian, J. (2010). Organisational challenges to providing services for personality disordered people. In Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (eds.), Treating Personality Disorder: Creating robust services for people with complex mental health needs. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841150
Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (2010a). The difficulties that staff experience in treating individuals with personality disorder. In Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (eds), Treating Personality Disorder: Creating robust services for people with complex mental health needs. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841150
Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (2010b). Fundamental treatment strategies for optimising interventions with people with personality disorder. In Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (eds), Treating Personality Disorder: Creating robust services for people with complex mental health needs. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841150
Saradjian, J., Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (2010). Delivering integrated treatment to people with personality disorder. In Murphy, N. & McVey, D. (eds.), Treating Personality Disorder: Creating robust services for people with complex mental health needs. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841150
Webster, C.D., Douglas, K.S., Eaves, D. & Hart, S.D. (1997). Historical Clinical Risk Management-20 (HCR-20): Assessing risk for violence (version 2). Simon Fraser University, British Colombia.
Wong, S. & Gordon, A. (1998-2003). Violence Risk Scale. Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan: Saskatoon, Canada.
