Gender differences in victimization were retrospectively examined in 218 male and 218 female patients who have been admitted to one of four Dutch forensic psychiatric hospitals between 1984 and 2014. Case files were studied and variables relating to victimization and psychopathology were coded. It was found that the prevalence rates of victimization were higher among female patients than among male patients, both during childhood and adulthood. Childhood sexual abuse was found to be more prevalent among women than men, however, no differences were found for emotional and physical abuse or neglect during childhood. Women with a history of emotional or sexual abuse were significantly more often diagnosed with borderline personality disorder than women without childhood victimization. Men with a history of physical abuse were significantly more often diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder than men without childhood victimization. Clinical and policy implications of this study for forensic practice are discussed.
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A core element of Schema Therapy (ST) is ‘schema modes’ or fluctuating emotional states. ST assumes that particular personality pathology consists of specific combinations of maladaptive schema modes. There is confirmatory evidence for the modes hypothesized to be central to borderline and narcissistic personality disorder (PD) in non-forensic patients. In this study, we tested three aspects of the construct validity of schema modes in cluster-B personality disordered offenders, examining its factorial validity, and the relations among personality disorders and violence risk.
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Background: People with a personality disorder (PD) suffer from enduring inflexible patterns in cognitions and emotions, leading to significant subjective distress, affecting both self and interpersonal functioning. In clinical practice, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is provided to clients with a PD, and although research continuously confirms the value of DMT for many populations, to date, there is very limited information available on DMT and PD. For this study, a systematic literature review on DMT and PD was conducted to identify the content of the described DMT interventions and the main treatment themes to focus upon in DMT for PD. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across the following databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed, WEB OF SCIENCE, PsycINFO/OVID, and SCOPUS following the PRISMA guidelines. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme for qualitative studies was used to rank the quality of the articles. The Oxford Center for Evidence-based Medicine standards were applied to determine the hierarchical level of best evidence. Quantitative content analysis was used to identify the intervention components: intended therapeutic goals, therapeutic activities leading to these goals, and suggested therapeutic effects following from these activities. A thematic synthesis approach was applied to analyze and formulate overarching themes. Results: Among 421 extracted articles, four expert opinions met the inclusion criteria. Six overarching themes were found for DMT interventions for PD: self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, integration of self, processing experiences, cognition, and expression and symbolization in movement/dance. No systematic descriptions of DMT interventions for PD were identified. A full series of intervention components could be synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition. The use of body-oriented approaches and cognitive strategies was in favor of dance-informed approaches. Conclusions: Dance movement therapists working with PD clients focus in their interventions on body-related experiences, non-verbal interpersonal relationships, and to a lesser extent, cognitive functioning. A methodological line for all intervention components was synthesized for the themes of self-regulation, interpersonal relationships, and cognition, of importance for developing systematic intervention descriptions. Future research could focus on practitioners’ expertise in applying DMT interventions for PD to develop systematic intervention descriptions and explore the suitability of the identified themes for clinical application. Clients’ experiences could offer essential insights on how DMT interventions could address PD pathology and specific PD categories.
