CBT as a treatment for criminal behaviours

How can CBT help offenders?

By developing their insight into their thoughts and feelings, showing how these influenced their criminal behaviour

What does CBT work on the premise of?

The idea that our thoughts, feelings and behaviour and closely linked, so developing am offender’s awareness of their own thoughts and changing them should help make their future behaviour be more pro-social

Why is CBT used for offenders?

Criminals have been shown to display distorted thinking, such as displacing the blame of their crime onto the victim or another source external to themselves, justifying their offending, misinterpreting social cues as potential threats and having schemas related to self-dominance and personal entitlement. These distorted ways of thinking are assumed to be learned, so CBT aims to help offenders identify and restructure these faulty patterns of thinking, develop victim empathy and challenge their tendency to self-justify their offending.

Examples of characteristics of distorted thinking? (3)

• Immature or developmentally inappropriate thoughts

• An egocentric viewpoint with a negative view / lack of trust in others

• Poor problem solving and decision making

Summary of anger management programmes?

• Initial session to gauge issues

• 8-10 weekly sessions focussing on changing the distorted beliefs, including victim blaming

• Action plan for the future agreed - what to do to control maladaptive thinking such as lack of empathy and increased anger and depression

• Review for 5/6 months later

• Normally take place within a prison environment but may be part of the parole process or a condition of parole

3 stages of anger management?

1. Cognitive preparation

2. Skill acquisition

3. Application and practice

Explain cognitive preparation

The offender works with a trained therapist and reflects on situations that triggered their anger in the past, and whether they could have reacted differently (eg- rationalising that if they were pushed when standing in a bar, it may have been accidental). This can lead to more logical judgements and therefore more rational behaviour.

Explain skill acquisition

Offenders are taught a range of behavioural techniques to use when they experience a stressful event. They may use relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, counting to ten, etc. This ‘self-talk’ promotes calmness and can become an automatic response if used regularly. Relaxation and meditation can be used outside of stressful situation too, in order to control emotional responses more generally.

Explain application and practice

The therapist devises situations for the offender to demonstrate the skills they have been taught. They might reconstruct events where they have become angry in the past to practice using the learned techniques and test whether they have become internalised.

Strengths of CBT?

• Wilson et al (2005)

• It may be better than other biological treatments

How is Wilson et al (2005) a strength?

The study found in a meta analysis of 20 group-oriented CBT research studies that CBT was found to be an effective way of reducing recidivism by up to 30% compared to control groups who did not receive CBT. Therefore, this shows that CBT can be considered effective.

Why may CBT be considered better than other treatments? (strength)

CBT may be considered better than other biological treatments such as anti-psychotics or hormone treatments because there are no side effects (eg- depression and brat enlargement) which may cause offenders to stop taking the treatment. Therefore, offenders are more likely to continue either the treatment programme, increasing the chances of successful completion and a reduction in recidivism.

Weakness of CBT?

• Only able to try and correct present thoughts

• Slow to work

Why is CBT only able to try and correct ‘present’ thoughts? (weakness)

This is because it is difficult to focus on thought processes that led to criminal behaviour in the past and impossible to think of the distorted thoughts which may lead to offences in the future. Therefore, CBT may only be useful in reducing offending rates for crimes an individual has recently committed, and this individual may go on to commit completely different types of crime where the techniques learned would be irrelevant.

Why is the length of time CBT takes to work a weakness?

CBT sessions for criminals often take 10 or more sessions to be completed, meaning that the adjustment of maladaptive thoughts is not immediate. Moreover, an uncooperative client makes the process of CBT less effective. Furthermore, during the period of the therapy sessions, the patient may reoffend.