Learning Disabled (Mentally Handicapped) Offender (From A Practical Guide to Forensic Psychotherapy, P 56-61, 1997, Estela V Welldon and Cleo Van Velsen, eds. -- See NCJ-168168)

• NCJ Number: 168174
• Author(s): V Sinason
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Publication Type: Training (Aid/Material)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

After discussing the psychodynamics of learning disabled offenders, this paper addresses treatment issues for such offenders.

Abstract

To have a learning disability, however mild or severe, is a double deprivation. Not only is the individual deprived of the ability to think, read, write, and speak at the same level as non-disabled peers, but the handicapped person experiences the loneliness of being different in a way that people would not choose to be. In a psychoanalytic group for sex offenders which the author has helped conduct, all learning disabled participants have experienced major past trauma themselves. The author considers that until such offenders receive empathy for what they themselves experienced as children, they cannot be expected to have concern for their victims. Once the treatment process is underway, offenders' learning deficits might make treatment more effective. As a result of a failure to process past trauma adequately through the use of mental symbols, the central disturbance of the learning disabled offender can be more visible.