Objectives
• To know about the forensic psychotherapy
• To learn about the basic and important features of forensic psychotherapy
• To understand the importance of working systematically and getting institutional support for the success of FPT
Forensic Psychotherapy FPT
Forensic psychotherapy is an emerging exciting new development in psychology particularly developed only for psycho-legal types of problems. Can’t we call all other therapies use in forensic setting forensic psychotherapy? There is a difference because all other therapies are developed as generic therapies and are still used in non forensic settings.
Many other therapies are also used in forensic settings, but those therapies are used in non forensic settings too. FPT is solely design to use with the forensic population with legal concerns, although many techniques
are borrowed from other psychotherapies like psychoanalysis, humanistic approach e.t.c.
Main features of forensic psychotherapy are as follows:
Balancing act
As discussed earlier that creating a balance in between empathy and firmness and positive regard and professional limits and boundaries is the crux of therapeutic relationships.
Exploring therapeutic alliance
Exploring the client’s behavioral pattern towards therapist in counseling process. In group therapy interaction with other group members is also explored to determine the degree of change and to focus on targeted areas. Childhood experiences are also explored.
Providing a whole range of experiences
In forensic settings, therapist has to work with a wide range of clients like:
1. One who have been living in slumps, on streets and had not experienced love, sympathy,
affection and comfort in life.
2. On the contrary hand there is offenders who were spoiled and developed narcissistic
personalities with excessive money and facilities but with overindulgent and affectionless
parenting.
3. Third types of offenders are those who can not develop trust for any one because they have been a victim of child sexual abuse or incest.
Although range of people is quite wide but their experiences are very limited and narrow. One can think that the offenders who are brought up in slumps or street born can not be short handed of different flavors
of experiences but many of them have not experienced the real happiness and mirth. They have lived an emotionally deprived life, and can not experience different types of emotions.A therapist provides thema
whole range of experiences through:
• Exploring emotional life in safe environment
• Art therapy
• Music therapy
• Drama therapy
• Fantasy and Imagery Exercise
• Relationship problems are solved
• Home works assignments
Exploring emotional life in safe environment
Forensic psychotherapists need to think about their patients—how and why they committed their offences, and why they present complex management problems to colleagues. Therapist allows talking freely about
childhood relationships with father, mother, siblings and other family members. Discussions take place about the bullying experiences in school years. Then adolescence emotional experienced are also explored
like many young boys or girls are sexually exploited by older aged man or women and consequences of such experiences can be dangerous. Discussion of such experience in safe environment is a totally new
experience for clients then therapist exposes them to new experiences like expressing emotions through drawings and paintings.
At therapy
Art is used to explore personalities; in FPT art is not used as a tool to assess personality rather for the exploration of personality.
Music Therapy
Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish therapeutic goals by a qualified professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Every session has some theme and clients are allowed to beat drums or play any other instrument with the help of trained musician.
Specific goals of music therapy in forensic settings may include the following:
1. Increase self-awareness
2. Improve reality testing and problem-solving skills
3. Improve respect for others, including peers and authority
4. Develop healthy verbal and non-verbal communication skills
5. Decrease impulsivity through practical techniques
6. Accept responsibility for thoughts and feelings
7. Learn relaxation and coping skills
8. Improve physical conditioning
9. Develop effective leisure skills
10. Explore feelings and make positive changes in mood states
Drama Therapy
The use of dramatic process and theater as a therapeutic intervention began with Psychodrama. developed by Moreno. DT is intentional use of theater techniques to facilitate personal growth and providing an offender a variety of experiences that they usually could not experience in their lives. Drama therapy is an expressive therapy Drama therapy exists in many forms and can be applicable to individuals, couples, families, and various groups.
Often, drama therapy is utilized to help a client:
• To learn about the basic and important features of forensic psychotherapy
• To understand the importance of working systematically and getting institutional support for the success of FPT
Forensic Psychotherapy FPT
Forensic psychotherapy is an emerging exciting new development in psychology particularly developed only for psycho-legal types of problems. Can’t we call all other therapies use in forensic setting forensic psychotherapy? There is a difference because all other therapies are developed as generic therapies and are still used in non forensic settings.
Many other therapies are also used in forensic settings, but those therapies are used in non forensic settings too. FPT is solely design to use with the forensic population with legal concerns, although many techniques
are borrowed from other psychotherapies like psychoanalysis, humanistic approach e.t.c.
Main features of forensic psychotherapy are as follows:
Balancing act
As discussed earlier that creating a balance in between empathy and firmness and positive regard and professional limits and boundaries is the crux of therapeutic relationships.
Exploring therapeutic alliance
Exploring the client’s behavioral pattern towards therapist in counseling process. In group therapy interaction with other group members is also explored to determine the degree of change and to focus on targeted areas. Childhood experiences are also explored.
Providing a whole range of experiences
In forensic settings, therapist has to work with a wide range of clients like:
1. One who have been living in slumps, on streets and had not experienced love, sympathy,
affection and comfort in life.
2. On the contrary hand there is offenders who were spoiled and developed narcissistic
personalities with excessive money and facilities but with overindulgent and affectionless
parenting.
3. Third types of offenders are those who can not develop trust for any one because they have been a victim of child sexual abuse or incest.
Although range of people is quite wide but their experiences are very limited and narrow. One can think that the offenders who are brought up in slumps or street born can not be short handed of different flavors
of experiences but many of them have not experienced the real happiness and mirth. They have lived an emotionally deprived life, and can not experience different types of emotions.A therapist provides thema
whole range of experiences through:
• Exploring emotional life in safe environment
• Art therapy
• Music therapy
• Drama therapy
• Fantasy and Imagery Exercise
• Relationship problems are solved
• Home works assignments
Exploring emotional life in safe environment
Forensic psychotherapists need to think about their patients—how and why they committed their offences, and why they present complex management problems to colleagues. Therapist allows talking freely about
childhood relationships with father, mother, siblings and other family members. Discussions take place about the bullying experiences in school years. Then adolescence emotional experienced are also explored
like many young boys or girls are sexually exploited by older aged man or women and consequences of such experiences can be dangerous. Discussion of such experience in safe environment is a totally new
experience for clients then therapist exposes them to new experiences like expressing emotions through drawings and paintings.
At therapy
Art is used to explore personalities; in FPT art is not used as a tool to assess personality rather for the exploration of personality.
Music Therapy
Music therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish therapeutic goals by a qualified professional who has completed an approved music therapy program. Every session has some theme and clients are allowed to beat drums or play any other instrument with the help of trained musician.
Specific goals of music therapy in forensic settings may include the following:
1. Increase self-awareness
2. Improve reality testing and problem-solving skills
3. Improve respect for others, including peers and authority
4. Develop healthy verbal and non-verbal communication skills
5. Decrease impulsivity through practical techniques
6. Accept responsibility for thoughts and feelings
7. Learn relaxation and coping skills
8. Improve physical conditioning
9. Develop effective leisure skills
10. Explore feelings and make positive changes in mood states
Drama Therapy
The use of dramatic process and theater as a therapeutic intervention began with Psychodrama. developed by Moreno. DT is intentional use of theater techniques to facilitate personal growth and providing an offender a variety of experiences that they usually could not experience in their lives. Drama therapy is an expressive therapy Drama therapy exists in many forms and can be applicable to individuals, couples, families, and various groups.
Often, drama therapy is utilized to help a client:
- Experience a wide range of experiences and emotions
- Solve a problem
- Achieve a catharsis
- Delve into truths about self
- Understand the meaning of personally resonate images
Explore and transform unhealthy patterns of interaction
Drama therapy is extremely varied in its use, based on the practitioner, the setting and the client from fully-fledged performances to empty chair (talking to fictitious personality), role-play, and role reversals. Such techniques are borrowed from creative arts. We use psychodrama with those clients that really need to experience other emotions.
Now take an example of a depressed incarcerated man, who was convicted and sentenced for ten years. Spending one day in prison is difficult and he has to stay there for eight more years, how as a forensic therapist you can evoke hope in him. In such situations Fantasy Exercise is very effective, in which client is asked to close eyes accompany by deep breathing and imagine that he is a superman, who can fly over the sky but live as a disguised prisoner and when ever wants can fly and help needy people.
By practicing such imagery exercises two concerns can be touched:
1. Developing positive feelings like prisoner is very powerful and eliminating depression.
2. At the same time developing the feeling to use that power for needy people so creating altruism in an offender.
Relationship problems are solved
Offender is persuaded to give gifts to wife so relationships problems are solved and a healthy support is created for therapeutic process. Researches support the notion that drug addiction is a reaction to negative relationships. And addiction is a core reason of many crimes.
Therapeutic Structure
Patients may be treated in individual therapy, in group therapy or through mixing individual with group therapies.
Working systemically
Although forensic psychotherapy is psychodynamic based, which is individual oriented therapy but the importance of system is also realized in FTP. The idea is not to upset many people and attract people in your side. Like working with collaboration with prison guards, frequent contact is maintained. With out cooperation of all concerned people work of a forensic therapist is almost impossible as he will stay with all positive attitude just during therapy session but client has to spent all other time with other prison staff and
if their behaviuor is inhuman and humiliating then the positive regard and empathy of therapist would not effect or contribute the healing process.
Building alliances with staff
In process of working systematically forensic therapist working in a prison setting try to persuade the prison staff to join training groups to learn the strategies to deal with job related stress. These groups are intestinally entitled as training group because usually joining a group for psychotherapy is considered stigma.
Training groups are formed and psychological principals are taught to the prison staff so they also strengthen the healing and helping process. Work in this dimension is very important. Forensic psychologist has to deal with many difficult challenges and need to be very careful even in selection of words while interacting with system. They have to work very politely and diplomatically to
create alliances. Alliances are not only established with prison staff but also with other key individuals through regular meetings other than group meetings. Like Alliances with home ministry, interior
ministry, policy makers and decision makers are essential to reform the prison environment so; vicious cycle of violence can be breached.
But the importance of balancing limits is equally important here. The professional responsibility of a psychologist is to call a spade a spade. So in consideration of alliances making they ought not neglect their basic purpose of challenging and confronting the maltreatment.
Pinpointing the people who are creating the and to clear them the metaphor of change gradually obstacle is equally important.
Getting institutional support
Drama therapy is extremely varied in its use, based on the practitioner, the setting and the client from fully-fledged performances to empty chair (talking to fictitious personality), role-play, and role reversals. Such techniques are borrowed from creative arts. We use psychodrama with those clients that really need to experience other emotions.
Now take an example of a depressed incarcerated man, who was convicted and sentenced for ten years. Spending one day in prison is difficult and he has to stay there for eight more years, how as a forensic therapist you can evoke hope in him. In such situations Fantasy Exercise is very effective, in which client is asked to close eyes accompany by deep breathing and imagine that he is a superman, who can fly over the sky but live as a disguised prisoner and when ever wants can fly and help needy people.
By practicing such imagery exercises two concerns can be touched:
1. Developing positive feelings like prisoner is very powerful and eliminating depression.
2. At the same time developing the feeling to use that power for needy people so creating altruism in an offender.
Relationship problems are solved
Offender is persuaded to give gifts to wife so relationships problems are solved and a healthy support is created for therapeutic process. Researches support the notion that drug addiction is a reaction to negative relationships. And addiction is a core reason of many crimes.
Therapeutic Structure
Patients may be treated in individual therapy, in group therapy or through mixing individual with group therapies.
Working systemically
Although forensic psychotherapy is psychodynamic based, which is individual oriented therapy but the importance of system is also realized in FTP. The idea is not to upset many people and attract people in your side. Like working with collaboration with prison guards, frequent contact is maintained. With out cooperation of all concerned people work of a forensic therapist is almost impossible as he will stay with all positive attitude just during therapy session but client has to spent all other time with other prison staff and
if their behaviuor is inhuman and humiliating then the positive regard and empathy of therapist would not effect or contribute the healing process.
Building alliances with staff
In process of working systematically forensic therapist working in a prison setting try to persuade the prison staff to join training groups to learn the strategies to deal with job related stress. These groups are intestinally entitled as training group because usually joining a group for psychotherapy is considered stigma.
Training groups are formed and psychological principals are taught to the prison staff so they also strengthen the healing and helping process. Work in this dimension is very important. Forensic psychologist has to deal with many difficult challenges and need to be very careful even in selection of words while interacting with system. They have to work very politely and diplomatically to
create alliances. Alliances are not only established with prison staff but also with other key individuals through regular meetings other than group meetings. Like Alliances with home ministry, interior
ministry, policy makers and decision makers are essential to reform the prison environment so; vicious cycle of violence can be breached.
But the importance of balancing limits is equally important here. The professional responsibility of a psychologist is to call a spade a spade. So in consideration of alliances making they ought not neglect their basic purpose of challenging and confronting the maltreatment.
Pinpointing the people who are creating the and to clear them the metaphor of change gradually obstacle is equally important.
Getting institutional support
A forensic psychotherapist can not work in a vacuum and one man army is not the idea so like minded people are founded and alliances are established. Institutional support is sought to strengthen the changes that have occurred and cultivate the future successes.
