| Summary: | For many years it has been asserted that those with personality disorder were "untreatable" however in more recent times this has been challenged and the therapeutic community has come to be seen as the most effective model of treatment. This thesis investigates the impact of treatment in a prison therapeutic community on personality disordered offenders. The participating samples were therapeutic community residents (N=58) and a comparison group from mainstream prison (N=14). The research used a longitudinal design and both groups of participants were followed-up after twelve months . .. /~,.., .. The thesis presents an historical overview of personality disorder, including definitions and theoretical explanations before elucidating the links between personality disorder and criminality. A description of prison interventions and interventions specifically for personality disorder is provided. The specific aims of the research were to examine the efficacy of treating personality disordered male offenders within a prison therapeutic community. The prevalence of personality disorder within this setting was also investigated and two methods of diagnosing personality disorder were compared (self-report and clinical interview). The results of the current research show that the therapeutic community is effective in improving the symptoms of paranoid personality disorder, in particular, and provides some encouraging support for the treatability of personality disordered offenders. However, antisocial personality disorder may well get worse during time in the therapeutic community and more work is to be done to develop an effective treatment for this type of offender. In the concluding chapter of the thesis, the results are discussed in terms of links to existing literature and their contribution to theory. Implications for practice are proposed, the limitations of the research are discussed along with areas for future research.
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