The implicit theories of male child sexual offenders residing in a high secure psychiatric hospital

Abstract

Although the vast majority of individuals with a mental disorder do not commit sexual offences, sexual offenders are a significant group within forensic psychiatric populations and command a high level of healthcare resources. Despite this, there is little published research focusing on the offence-specific cognitive styles (e.g. cognitive distortions and implicit theories) of these individuals, limiting understanding of their assessment and treatment needs. The current study aimed to establish whether evidence for the implicit theories identified by researchers of non-mentally disordered child sexual offenders would also be present among a population of high secure psychiatric male sexual offenders. Analysis of interviews with 12 such individuals indicated that the majority of the cognitive distortions articulated by these men could be categorised within existing implicit theory descriptions. The findings are discussed in relation to clinical practice and suggestions for future research with this specific population are proposed.

Keywords:

• Child sexual abuse
• cognitive distortions
• high secure
• implicit theories
• mental disorder

Notes

1. The term “mental disorder” is used throughout this paper and encompasses both mental illness and personality disorder, in accordance with DSM-IV (APA, 2000).