NCJ Number
199686
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: 2002 Pages: S5-S11
Editor(s)
John Gunn,
Pamela J. Taylor,
David Farrington,
Mary McMurran
Date Published
2002
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article examines the British Government’s involvement with psychiatry and in defining and institutionalizing the concept, “personality disorder,” and its impact and restraints on the clinical conceptualization of the disorder in determining treatment for those with a serious disorder and who commit harm to others.
Abstract
In the 1990's, the British Government undertook the reform of the legal and physical institutions to contain and treat people with personality disorders. The government’s involvement with psychiatry creates potentially great opportunities. However, when seriously harmful behavior is involved, these potential opportunities can be severely limited or be nonexistent. Under the Mental Health Act of 1983, the term “psychopathic disorder” appeared. In an attempt to reduce the stigma of this term, government consultation documents adopted the more general term “personality disorder.” This became a catch-all definition of mental disorder, applying to anybody and resulting in divisions within clinical professional groups and between clinicians and political leaders. There is a threat that people with serious mental disorders may offend, be offered little or nothing by health services, and be imprisoned. They may then be released from prison after receiving little or no treatment. The British Government has recognized a need and created an opportunity for great advances in the treatment of personality disorder, with or without accompanying dangerous behavior. Clinicians have the responsibility to develop the abilities to describe personality disorders accurately, to trace their causes, and to develop prevention and treatment strategies accordingly, in order not to become institutionalized in their thinking. Greater clarity about the individuality and variety of people with personality disorders and the propensity for serious offending is a critical factor in avoiding new forms of institutionalization. References