What Is Forensic Therapy?

Forensic therapy (or forensic psychotherapy) is the psychological treatment of mentally ill patients who have committed violent or aggressive offenses against others or themselves and who are often ordered into a therapeutic setting by the legal system.

Settings of Practice

• Typical settings for forensic therapy include high- and medium-security hospitals and prisons, local minimum-security facilities, nonsecure in-patient and out-patient units, nonresidential day hospitals, specialty centers and, in the community, forensic assessment units.

Patient Profile

• Patients in high-risk forensic therapy include those with “complex and disturbing levels of psychopathology” diagnosed with pathologies such as antisocial personality disorder or schizophrenia/psychotic disorder. Patients in lower-risk settings show less tendency to act aggressively.

Patient Background

• Many patients were themselves victims of neglect or abuse in childhood, either in dysfunctional family settings or in organized care arrangements (foster home, group care facilities, etc.).

Female Patients

• Although patients are typically male, increasing numbers of female offenders are being ordered into forensic treatment. Offenses commitment by women under treatment include physical and sexual abuse of children, infanticide, and self harm.

Goals of Forensic Therapy

• The ultimate goal of forensic therapy is to help violent offenders not to commit a crime again, but smaller, more realistic goals include increasing the patient’s insights into his own thought processes, awareness of what he has done and understanding of the impact of his behaviors on himself and others.