A VALUE SYSTEM AND ITS THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS FOR MENTALLY DISORDERED OFFENDERS COMMITTED TO A FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY WARD

Abstract

Mentally disordered patients held in a forensic psychiatry ward due to a criminal act they have committed find themselves in a particular life situation. Their life has been fundamentally changed because their mental disorder, mental impairment, or disruption of mental activities led them to commit a criminal act and resulted in being confined for treatment in a closed psychiatric ward. The study aimed to establish the hierarchy of terminal and instrumental values as well as their determinants for this group of patients. The study results show that the central values recognised by the respondents included family security, mature love, national security, a world at peace, and self-respect. In contrast, peripheral values included happiness, salvation, social recognition, free-dom, and an exciting life. Establishing and analysing the hierarchy of values for detention patients can have an important therapeutic implication. It can also help the treatment team set therapeutic goals and learn what patients consider important, what they want and how they want to behave.