Are guilt and shame in male forensic patients linked to treatment motivation and readiness?

This thesis includes the research, assignments and clinical placements that were undertaken for the degree of Doctor of Psychology (Clinical Psychology). The Major Research Project was focused on the concepts of guilt and shame and treatment motivation and readiness in forensic patients. Treatment motivation and readiness are important considerations in forensic settings. Models and theories of these concepts suggest affective factors such as the experience of guilt and shame are likely to have some impact on motivation and readiness for treatment. These models have been validated in general forensic settings, but although applied to forensic mental health settings, the validity of the different aspects of these models has not been directly examined with forensic mental health patients. This thesis aimed to investigate whether there was any relationship between guilt and shame and motivation and readiness for treatment in a sample of forensic patients. Part one of this thesis presents a narrative review of guilt and shame in forensic mental health participants. The findings of the review suggested that guilt and shame were relevant emotional experiences for forensic patients. Links between these emotions and motivation and readiness for treatment had not been empirically tested. Part two presents an empirical paper that investigated the association between guilt and shame and treatment motivation and readiness in patients residing in forensic mental health settings. The findings suggested that offence-related guilt was associated with readiness for treatment, whereas shame did not have a relationship with motivation or readiness. Part three presents a summary of clinical experience gained within this training programme and Part four contains the assessments completed during training