Forensic and DIalectial

forensic psychology

application of psychological methods and pricniples within the legal system

social psychologists

research and apply psychologucal scences issues such as jur sleection and jury dynamics

cognitive psychologists

bring their expertise to bear on the issues of eyewitness testimonry and its accuracy

clinical psychologists

most qualified and involves in foresenscs, bring their expenvice in extensive training in assessment, treatment, and psychopatholgoy

Ott and helibrun

called forensic asesment the psycholgical assesment of persons for the purpsoe fo assisting the legal fact finder

comprhensvie, valud and reliable

clinical psychologits are uniquely trained to conduct assessments that are

hugo munsterberg

major promoter of psychology usage in legal arena, wrote “On the witness stand”

goal of clinical psychologists

help legal system by offering infor and rec regarding the individual

child custody, competency, and presenting evaluations

mot common assesments of foresic psycholgoy

who is the client

should be clarified by clinical psychologists from the outset

limits of confidentiality

should be made clear to the individual being evaluted in a consent process that states psycholgists cant ensure complete confidentiality of report once shared

predicting dangerousness

practice where foresenic psycholigsts assess the like;lihood that and indivudal will behave violently or dangerously in the future

clinical prediction methods

assessors that use psychological tests, clinical interviews, clinical experience, and personal judgement ot make determinations

statistical prediction methods

asessors predict dangerousness based on a statistical formula complied from a comparison of indviduals’ charactersitcs with knowns coreelations to future dnagerousness

dispositional variables

age, race, sex, social class, and personality variables

historical variables

history of violecne, work, mental health, and criminal activies

contextual varaibles

current social supports, prescene of weapons, and current stress levels

clinical variables

current mental disorders, drug and alchoghol use, and overall level of functioning

grove

found that statistical predctionw eres about 10 percent ore accutate than clincal predictions

risks factors of dangerous behavior

age, arrest record, weapon avaliability, social support, and psycholgical symptoms

base rate

rate at which behavior occurs, phenomena with low base rate are more difficult to predict

not guilty by reason of insanity

in u.s legal system where individual was unable to control their criminal actions due to mental disorder and is not held responsible for the crime

four common misconceptons of NGRI

used frequently, thinks its often successful, think defedant is often released without being instituionlized, and misperception that NGRI indivudals are more dangerous than they really are

Mnaghten test

first legal standard for insanity defense

guilty but mentally ill

new trial outcome that constitutes a middle ground between full criminal responsibility and finding of not guilt by reason of insantiy

child custody evaluations

evaluations conducted by forensic psychologists for the purpose of providing reccomentdations for child custody; most complex and challengeing

best interest of the child doctrine

legal principle in which custody decisions are made based on

guardian ad litem

neutral party appointed to protect the rights of the child

competant to stand trial

required condition of the defendant in the u.s legal system for which forensic osycgolgocusts often conduct assessment

civil commitment

process by which a person is involuntarily hospitalized by civil authorites for the welfare of the person and others

first criterion

the individual have a mental disorder

second criterion

person be unable to appreicaite the need for treatment because of this disorder

third criterion

person must be dangerou sto self or others due to mental disorder

fourth criterion

individual’s ability rto care for basic needs as part of the commitment criteria

fifth criterion

require a need for treatment; some states

sixth criterion

commitment must occur in the least restrictive environment

crisis management

situations when someone enagges in self harming or violent behaviors; short termed

maintenance treatments

used for incarcerated indivdual with long standing problems

outpatient psychotherapy

success of failures occir in this seeting as much as they do in traidiotnal settings

targeted programs

often used with alchol and other drug treatments and sex offender treatments, advanatges of allowing for more contact hours with clients

dialectical behavior therapy

broad based congitive behavioral treatment developed for chrnocally suicidal indivudlas diagnosed with borderline personality disorder; combination of individual psychotherapy, group skills training, telephone coaching, and therapist consultation team

dialectical and biosocial theory

emphasizes difficulties inr egulating emotion and behaviors

emotional dysregulation

linked ot variety of mental heath provlems

goal of DBT

help individuals change behavioral, emotional, thinking, and interperosnal pattersn asosciate dwith problems in living

interrelatedness of skills deficits

learning one new set of skills is extremely difficultu without learning other related skills simultaneously

first dialectical characteristic

dialectics stresses the fundamental interelatedness of wholeness of reality

second dialectical characteristic

reality is not seen as static

dialectical failures

leave individual stuck in polarities and unable to move to syntehsis; what dichotomous and extreme thinking, behavrio, and emotions are veiwed as

polarities

need for client to accpe themselves as they are in the moment and the need for them to change

third dialectical characteristic

assumption that the fundamental nature of reality is change and process rather than content or structure

marsha linehan

develop the biosocial theory that would let her understand the act of suicide and BPD; 3 criteria: guide treatment implementation, engender compassion, and fir the research data

biopsychosocial theory

theory based on the premise that both suicide and BPD are disorders of emotion dysregulation

interactive subsystems

emotional vulnerability to cues, internal/external events that serve as emotional cues, apprasial and interpretantion of cues, response tendecnies, nonveral and verbal expression respones and actions, aftereffect of inita emotion “firing”

emotion dysregulation

inability to change or regulate emotional cues, experiences, actions, verbal/nonverbal responses under normative conditions

pervasive emotion dysregulation

when inability to regulate meotions occurs across a wide range of emotions, adaptation problems, and situational contexts

emotional vulnerability

high negative affectivity as a baseline, sensitive to meotional stimuli, intense reponse to emotional stimuli, and slow return to emotion baseline once emotiona arousal has occured

function of emotions

in humans it serves a s a rapid communication system

reciprocal reinforcing transactions

increase emotion dysregulation and behavioral dyscontrol between biological vulnerabilites and environemntal risk factors

impulsive behavior

maladaptive, but highly effective emotion regulation strategies (self harm)

interpersonal relationships

depends on a stable sense of self, capacity for self regulation of emotions, and tolerance of emotionally painful stimuli

mindfulness

consciously experience and observe onself and surround events with curiosity and without judgement, participate in the flow of the present moment

Mindfullness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance

DBT skills training