The book aims at providing an empirically based, psychoanalytic understanding about juvenile sex offenders. It details the extent and nature of juvenile offending and its impact on victims. It also provides an extensive psychoanalytically-oriented description of the characteristics of juvenile sex offenders. In doing so, it compares the characteristics and characterizes the differences between juvenile sex offenders and non-offenders. The background of such offenders is examined, focusing on their experiences of abuse, especially sexual abuse, in considering a developmental view of juvenile sex offending. Attention is paid to the unique characteristics of these offenders, especially their attachment difficulties and the level of psychopathy some juvenile sex offenders reveal. The implications of these characteristics of the offender group are then considered in relation to their assessment and treatment. These considerations are also used to highlight the importance of understanding the internal world of these offenders. Their internal world is viewed through an empirical lens, which reveals them to have impaired psychic representations of human relationship and, in the most psychopathic group, an obfuscation of the need for relationship. The differing problems concerning capacity for relationship and attachment and the means of assessing such problems are suggested to be essential to appropriate interventions. The book provides case examples to illustrate these issues and ultimately proposes an approach to assessment, recommendations for disposition and treatment of this offender group. In particular, it proposes the utility of Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) with modifications to the most psychopathic and thus, hard to treat offenders. Reviews: “Problem sexual behaviour is a major social problem, with many young offenders serially transgressing before being identified. Understanding their motivation, thoughts and feelings is essential if we are to identify as well as help them. Timothy Keogh’s book represents a major contribution empowering clinical efforts to deal with this problem—tragically, commonly regarded as intractable. Dr Keogh provides a coherent and helpful clinical model which, as all good theories, will be of great practical help to all those working with juvenile sex offenders."
- Professor Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor , University College London “Dr Keogh’s book is a landmark study of some of the most damaged of our society’s children. Because of the thorough, multi-perspective approach to these damaged and damaging children, his book does more than intelligently illuminate the hurt done to these children. In highlighting the sub-groups that characterize this group – often until now treated as a homogeneous group – he makes it possible to see which young offenders are best treated with which types of intervention, what our goals should be in intervening, and which children have the best prognosis. But more generally, his book is a model approach to understanding children that should be applied to other problems in child psychiatry, such as attention deficit, anxiety, and depressive disorders. We are generally lacking this kind of careful in-depth study, so it is a pleasure and an education to read this fine example. I recommend this book to all involved in helping young offenders, but I also strongly recommend it to anyone interested in the complexity of child development and child developmental disorders.”
- Dr David A. Scharff, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and former Director , the International Psychotherapy Institute, Washington, DC Contents: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD by Brett Kahr
FOREWORD by Stanley Ruszczynski INTRODUCTION PART I: THE FORENSIC FOCUS
CHAPTER ONE: The nature of juvenile sex offending
CHAPTER TWO: The characteristics and differences of juvenile sex offenders PART II: THE LENS
CHAPTER THREE: Attachment and juvenile sex offending
CHAPTER FOUR: Psychopathy and juvenile sex offending
CHAPTER FIVE: Malignant narcissism, psychopathy, and perversion
CHAPTER SIX: Epigenetics and aspects of the neurobiology of attachment and sexual behaviour PART III: MAGNIFYING THE LENS: RESEARCH FINDINGS
CHAPTER SEVEN: The study and its findings
CHAPTER EIGHT: A closer view into the internal world of the juvenile sex offender PART IV: PRACTICE AND APPLICATION
CHAPTER NINE: Implications for the assessment of the juvenile sex offender
CHAPTER TEN: The tale of two psyches: case histories of juvenile sex offenders
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Mentalization based therapy (MBT) and other psychoanalytic treatment EPILOGUE
REFERENCES
INDEX
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