A form of diagnosis that aims to explain the causes of a person's difficulties by constructing an individual summary or story of a person's life, jointly constructed by the person and their therapist
Forensic psychologists
Concerned with the assessment and treatment of offending behaviour
Produce a psychological formulation of individual offenders after they are sentenced
Psychological (case) formulation
A holistic approach to understanding the factors underlying criminal behaviour in such way that informs the changes needed and the mechanisms/treatments for such a change to occur
Psychological case formulation
1. Offence analysis - understanding the crime
2. Case formulation - Getting a detailed personal story of an individual
Offence analysis
The first phase to gain insight into the offender's motivations
Identifying the reasons why the offence happened to assess the risk of reoffending and what possible causes can be removed or changed to reduce the risk
Function of offending
What purpose the criminal behaviour serves for the individual, e.g. fulfilling a craving or need
Application to treatment
1. Establish an intervention for the offender based on the conclusions drawn
2. The rehabilitative programme should reflect how the offending started, the risk of reoffending, and the offender's level of motivation
Psychological formulation is not a 'one size fits all' model and must be constantly informed by the individual's personalcircumstances and the specific factors that triggered their offending behaviour
Strengths of psychological formulation
Can provide insight into particularly complex cases of offending
Brings together the work of many agencies and professionals within the criminal justice system to decide the best way forward for the offender
There may be a practical problem when trying to make sense of the wealth of information that is made available, as some of the evidence may be contradictory
Sources of bias within the process include the offender's unreliable retrospective recall of events and the psychologist's subjective interpretation
The success of psychological formulation is usually assessed in terms of reconviction rates rather than actual reoffending, which obscures the fact that most reoffending goes undetected
The effectiveness of psychological formulation should be based on whether the individual has changed their sense of identity or socialcircumstances, rather than just reoffending rates
Widespread adoption of psychological formulation methodology may help to reduce reoffending, which remains at an all-time high (currently estimated to be around 70%)
Forensic and clinical psychologists working in the field of psychological formulation are subject to the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) ethical guidelines