NCJ Number
163218
Journal
Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1996) Pages: 25-36
Date Published
1996
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper provides a rationale for working with denial as a component of the continuum of care offered in the cognitive/behavioral treatment of sexual offenders.
Abstract
Explaining denial from a functional perspective allows the clinician to see this force operating in a largely protective manner and therefore explains the need for certain cognitions, emotions, and behaviors that offenders and their families may use to maintain their positions. When the knowledge base of offender treatment can incorporate this description of denial, intervening with this means of defense can be broadened. Meta-confrontation has been one means suggested to make a therapeutic impact on the denying offender. This approach focuses on the need the client and his system have to behave in ways that amplify the denial, and it attempts to help clients find more adaptive ways of facing the crisis of disclosure. Meta-confrontation may represent a beneficial alternative to conventional direct confrontation. A number of interventions described in this paper operate by addressing the function and maintenance of denial in the offender and his family. These practices can coexist with the cognitive/behavioral model by providing a means of helping offenders comply with therapeutic and supervisory directives present in this orientation. In this manner, therapists can influence the number of untreated, or partially treated, offenders who may be at risk of reoffending. This approach also attempts to respond to court systems, which make treatment providers accountable for addressing denial when considering sentencing options. The integration of these practices may have an impact on the number of offenders currently being classified as untreatable. 33 references