Treating Psychopathy From Nothing Works to Something Works.Toward an Integration of Theory, Research, and Practice

This book gathers and interrogates all lines of research pertaining to the assessment, management, and treatment of psychopathy, with the goal of improving the functioning of the patient and reducing harm to potential victims and society at large.

Research shows psychopathy is at heart a disorder of personality. Treating Psychopathy is divided into two parts. Part 1 develops the conceptual framework for risk reduction treatment of psychopathy culminating in the description of the two-component treatment model, while Part 2 translates the two-component model of psychopathy treatment into the realities and challenges of delivering such a treatment program.

Discussions on the effective treatment of psychopathy often elicit as much curiosity as skepticism if not outright incredulity. However, over 5 decades of research on psychopathy have enabled major advances in our understanding of the assessment, prevalence, and etiology of psychopathy. Treatment can reduce recidivism among criminal offenders, and many effective interventions have received broad empirical support.

Stephen Wong, PhD, is a forensic psychologist and currently Honorary Professor at the Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, UK, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada.  He is a member of the Correctional Services Advisory and Accreditation Panel, National Offender Management Service, Ministry of Justice, UK. He was staff psychologist, then the Chief of Psychology and Research, and then Director of Research at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from 1981 to 2008 where he practiced and carried out research on the assessment and treatment of high-risk offenders and psychopaths for over 25 years. He spent a year at the Institute of Psychiatry, London as Visiting Professor in 2009 before joining the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham. Together with his colleagues, he developed the Violent Risk Scale and the Violence Risk Scale-sexual offender version and the Violence Reduction Program that are now used internationally in the assessment and rehabilitation work of high-risk, violence-prone forensic clients. He is the lead author of the monograph on the treatment of psychopathy with Dr. Robert Hare. He received a number of honors including the Saskatchewan Protective Services Medal in 2009, the Career Achievement Award from the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Psychological Association in 2008, the Corrections Exemplary Service Medal in 2003, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2002, the Best Practice Award for research by the American Correctional Association in 1998, and the 125th Anniversary of Confederation Medal of Canada in 1993, and was elected Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association in 2002.

Part I
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Psychopathy, Violence, and Treatment Implications
Chapter 3: A Review of the Psychopathy Treatment Literature
Chapter 4: Assessing Risk of Violence and Risk Change With Treatment
Chapter 5: Neurocognitive Characteristics of Psychopathy and Treatment Implications
Chapter 6: A Model for Violence Reduction Treatment of Individuals With Psychopathic Traits
Chapter 7: Overview of the Violence Reduction Program (VRP): History and Theoretical Considerations
Chapter 8: The Violence Reduction Program: Program Content and the Integration of the Various Treatment and Conceptual Approaches
Part II
Chapter 9: Case Example of Dave
Chapter 10: Case Example of Jack
Chapter 11: Program Management and Support
Chapter 12: Treatment Teams and Team Building
Chapter 13: Summary and Future Directions
Appendix 1
References