NCJ Number
146751
Journal
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic Volume: 53 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1989) Pages: 31-43
Date Published
1989
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article uses moral development theory to explain gang formation in mental health facilities and looks for some intervention strategies that facilitate therapy.
Abstract
Extensive research has been done on the sociological dynamics of gang formation. However, little attention has been paid to gang formation in psychiatric treatment units. In the institutional setting, gang members have been known to disrupt treatment, threaten other patients and staff and often leave the facility without completing their therapy. The authors look beyond the sociological and psychoanalytic research and focus on moral development theory in order to gain an understanding of this phenomenon and to find interventions with therapeutic value. The relevant literature is reviewed. Several characteristics of gangs within adolescent patient groups are identified. A number of active, constructive intervention strategies are suggested. One approach requires the unit director to join the gang subculture as a facilitator to resolve patient-staff conflicts. Another method involves the establishment of a "protreatment group process" in which peers help to discourage antitreatment activity and to resolve confrontations rather than putting this solely in the hands of staff.