The efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program in reducing psychopathic traits: A controlled trial with male detained youth.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program in reducing psychopathic traits among male detained youth. Method:In this controlled trial, a treatment group (n = 58) and a control group (n = 61) answered the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory-Short (YPIS) and the Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD) at baseline, posttreatment, and six months' follow-up. Treatment participants attended the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP; controls only received Treatment As Usual. Treatment effects were tested with latent growth curve models (LGCM).Results: At baseline, no significant differences between groups were found. Results from LGCM showed that condition was a significant predictor of change over time observed in almost all outcome measures. Concerning the YPIS, treatment participants presented a significant decrease both in the total score and in the YPIS factors scores when compared with the controls (medium/large effect sizes; growth modeling analysis -GMA d ranging from .58 to 1.12).Considering the PSCD, treatment participants also showed a significant decrease both in the total score and in the PSCD factors scores (except for the grandiose-manipulative factor) when compared with controls (medium effect sizes; GMA d ranging from .53 to .72). Results also showed that treatment effects were maintained six months after the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP completion. Conclusions:Findings indicate that the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP is a promising treatment approach to reduce psychopathic traits among male detained youth, suggesting that interventions targeting these traits should be considered in their rehabilitation, as the absence of tailored interventions may increase the levels of psychopathic traits and its associated risks.

Promoting a compassionate motivation in detained youth: A secondary analysis of a controlled trial with the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program.

“…As reported in the study of Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, Brazão, et al (2021) no significant differences were found in any of these variables (all p . .05).…”

“…Module 3 is explicitly focused on CMT (Ribeiro da Silva et al, 2022). Through experiential exercises (e.g., role-playing past, hypothetical and/or future events), detained youth are gradually exposed to the triggering of the threat system (mostly anger and shame exposure) to allow them to understand their outputs (both in the mind and in the body).…”

“…All sessions present a default structure, starting with the therapist making a grounding exercise before the session onset, which is aimed to bring the compassionate self of the therapists into the sessions (Ribeiro da Silva et al, 2022). The sessions themselves are then divided into three parts.…”

“…To test for the mechanisms of change, that is, the ability of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP to reduce psychopathic traits through the promotion of a compassionate motivation, a series of parallel processes LGCM were estimated (Cheong et al, 2003; von Soest & Hagtvet, 2011). Thus, we combined conditional LGCM of psychopathic traits (i.e., YPIS and its factors; PSCD and its factors; except for the GM dimension of the PSCD, as condition was not a significant predictor of change over time for this variable; Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, Brazão, et al, 2021) with the conditional LGCM of potential mediators (i.e., compassion-related variables: the three scales of the FCS; SCS; CS) into several parallel processes LGCM. Then, we modeled the indirect path from condition to outcome via the potential mediators (i.e., regressing the slope of the mediator on the slope of the outcome and testing the indirect effect).…”

“…Psychopathic Traits. Although a previous study found that the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program was able to reduce psychopathic traits (Ribeiro da Silva, Rijo, Brazão, et al, 2021), the current study also addressed whether the treatment produced differences in the aforementioned outcomes (shame, fears of compassion, social safeness, self-compassion, and compassion) when controlling for psychopathic traits scores measured at baseline. To address this, the total score at baseline of two self-report measures on psychopathic traits were entered as covariables: the Youth Psychopathic Traits PSYCHOPATHY.COMP: PROMOTING A COMPASSION MOTIVATION Inventory-Short (YPIS;Van Baardewijk et al, 2010; Portuguese version by Pechorro et al, 2015) and the Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorders (PSCD; Salekin & Hare, 2016; Portuguese version by Ribeiro da Silva, Sousa, et al, 2021).…”