Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing for offence-related trauma in a mentally disordered sexual offender

Abstract

The published version can be found at:http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tjsa20/current#.U8a4e1zDXRo EMDR for Offence-Related Trauma 2 AbstractResearch demonstrates a high incidence of offence-related trauma in mentally disordered offenders convicted of violent and sexual offences. The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model offers a theoretical framework for understanding the hypothesised relationship between offence-related trauma and re-offending.Evidence suggests that for a sub-population of offenders presenting with offencerelated trauma: (1) therapy may re-traumatise them, and (2)

Forensic psychologists should use the behavioral experiment to facilitate cognitive change in clients who have offended

“…For example, problematic cognitions relating to self esteem (e.g., "I am disliked by other people", "I fail at everything I do") will influence an individual's ability to gain and maintain a satisfactory relationship (a criminogenic need; Andrews & Bonta, 2010;Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005;Mann, Hanson, & Thornton, 2010) and also impede an individual's ability to engage in treatment through forming a cohesive bond with group members. A variety of cognitions can impact upon life quality and/ or responsivity to treatment including those relating to trauma (Clark, Tyler, Gannon, & Kingham, 2014;Gray et al, 2003;Latessa, Johnson, Listwan, & Koetzie, 2014;Looman & Abracen, 2013), mental illness (e.g., psychoses, anxiety disorders, clinical depression; Latessa et al, 2014;Looman & Abracen, 2013), shame and associated low self-esteem (Marshall et al, 2011;Marshall et al, 1999), motivation (Latessa et al, 2014;Yates, 2009), and mistrust of professionals (Gannon & Ward, 2014). Such issues may exacerbate criminogenic needs associated with offending behavior (e.g., self management, inappropriate sexual arousal, problems establishing intimacy, Andrews & Bonta, 2010;Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005) and increase treatment BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENT 8 drop out (see Table 1 for examples of cognitions falling into this area).…”

Sailing uncharted seas without a compass: A review of interventions in forensic mental health

“…During EMDR, the client is instructed to attend to the traumatic event(s) in brief doses while receiving bilateral brain stimulation which is believed to enable more adaptive associations to be made (Shapiro, 1995(Shapiro, , 2001. There has been some support for the efficacy of EMDR in offenders presenting with trauma (e.g., Ricci, Clayton, & Shapiro, 2006) and a recent article suggested that its utility may extend to MDOs with offense-related trauma (Clark, Tyler, Gannon, & Kingham, 2014). In Clark et al's case study of a MDO who offended in the context of severe mental disorder, striking initial treatment effects which were maintained at follow-up were reported.…”

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in a forensic patient with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from homicide: a case study

“…Controlled studies are of course still needed to investigate the specific role of cognitions in PTSD after offending. In Clark et al (2014) it is stated, for example, that cognitions such as guilt could be considered legitimate, and even protective, in PTSD after offending. However, it is important to note that the aim of treatment is not to absolve the individual of guilt (Lad, 2013).…”

“…Following the criteria of Schnurr and Lunney (2016), the patient reached a full remission end state. Importantly, and in contrast with others considering the possible adaptations in executing EMDR (Clark et al, 2014) and exposure-based PTSD programs in offenders (Smith, Duax, & Rauch, 2013;Stenmark, Guzey, Elbert, & Holen, 2014), EDMR was applied in its usual form in the current case study. The gains achieved maintained over an eight-month follow-up period.…”