Sexual offenders are a heterogeneous group who include men with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). Different Levels of Theory exist to help explain this type of behaviour. Level 3 theories seek to detail the offence process and are used to build higher level theories. The main theories developed to understand sexual offending behaviour have not included the voices of sexual offenders with an ID. This study aimed to bridge this gap by exploring the offence process of men with an ID who sexually offend against children. It examined the reasons that participants gave for their offending behaviour and aimed to develop a theoretical model of the explanations that participants gave for their offending behaviour, including its onset, development and maintenance. A qualitative design was employed and the data from 12 participants was analysed using Grounded Theory. A tentative model was developed where seven major categories and the central category emerged. The model did not reach saturation. It places reasons/attitudes at the centre of the model, as these were found to relate to every category, and were at the heart of the participants' explanations of the development and maintenance of the offences. The model identifies both distal and proximal factors which the participants described in their offence accounts. It includes developmental, contextual, cognitive, affective and behavioural factors. The developed model has clear similarities with other sexual offending theories and the clinical implications of this finding are considered. Future research directions are also suggested.

No description available.

No description available.

This narrative review draws upon a broad range of literature, including theory and empirical research, to argue that positive emotions are a useful adjunct to therapy when working with individuals who self-harm. The review highlights how self-harm is often employed as a method of emotion regulation and may be both negatively and positively reinforced. It is suggested that individuals who self-harm have potential difficulty in experiencing positive and negative emotions. The compatibility of an emotion focused approach to therapy for individuals who self harm is therefore deemed an appropriate one. , However, current therapeutic models predominantly focus on unpleasant or negative emotions and tend to neglect positive emotions, such as happiness. Broaden and build theory indicates that positive emotions can reduce the effects of negative emotions and aid recovery from intolerable negative emotions which may underpin self-harming behaviours. Therefore, the incorporation of positive emotions into therapy is likely to be salutary. In addition, if cultivated over time positive emotions, can help build resilience which may enable individuals to better cope with events which precipitate self-injurious behaviours. The review emphasises how positive emotions represent a valuable addition to therapeutic work but that the negatively valenced and painful emotions often experienced by those who self-injure must also be addressed.

No description available.

This thesis contains four main sections each of which looks at different but connected areas of enquiry. Although the sections are connected by the subject of anger some of the sections seemed to require a subjective approach whilst others seemed to require a more objective approach therefore first person and third person narratives are used as follows. Section A will be related in the first person to demonstrate the personal nature of the account and the reflective stance taken in introducing the reader to an overview of the thesis. Section B in the thesis will largely use the third person to demonstrate a more objective stance to the subjective accounts given by the participants. This is to reflect a more rigorous approach to the research undertaken. However there will be a departure in some of the paragraphs when personal reflections are narrated in line with the tradition of qualitative enquiries. These will be highlighted to the reader by the use of italics. Section C will be related in the first person to demonstrate the reflective nature of enquiry when exploring the therapeutic processes involved in a case study. Finally section D will be related in the third person as this section seemed to require an objective approach when reviewing literature.

People who harm themselves present a number of clinical challenges for staff in managing the risks associated with their behaviours, providing appropriate interventions and preventing repetition. This research explored the reasons individuals have and the changes in emotions they experience, when they self-harm and attend hospital for treatment. It investigated the role of emotional regulation and experiential avoidance. The research included people who had self-poisoned or engaged in both self-poisoning and self-injury. Study 1 involved ten out-patients from a Self-Harm Service who took part in a semi-structured interview. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, twelve themes emerged from the data which were grouped into four super-ordinate themes. These highlighted the difficulty participants had in experiencing and regulating their emotions and the use of self-harm as a strategy to avoid or regulate their emotions. They emphasised the important role of interpersonal, and not just, intrapersonal reasons for self-harm. The final super-ordinate theme explored the experience of becoming a self-harmer and the struggle with publicly acknowledging and accepting self-harm. Study 2 collected questionnaire data from 60 participants who attended hospital following self-harm. The results suggested that following self-poisoning, participants experienced a decrease in their emotions (particularly negative motions e.g. anger at other people). Although positive emotions increased, shame also significantly increased. The results also suggested that people who had self-poisoned and self-injured, significantly differed from those who had only ever self-poisoned showing higher emotional dysregulation and experiential avoidance. The clinical implications for assessing self-harm and developing interventions for emotional regulation difficulties are discussed.

The portfolio has three parts: a systematic literature review, an empirical study and a set of Appendixes. Part one is a systematic literature review in which empirical literature relating to the experiences of parenting a young person that engages in self-harm is reviewed and critically evaluated. It aims to present an understanding of parents' perceptions of self-harm, how it impacts themselves and others and the support available. Part two is an empirical paper which used qualitative methodologies to explore how young people that self-harm perceive stigma, how stigma impacts on them, and how they manage it. To achieve this, young people aged 14-17 attended a semi-structured interview with the main researcher which was analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The emerging themes are discussed at length and linked to previous research to identify theoretical implications. The clinical implications and methodological limitations are also discussed and areas requiring further research are identified. Part three comprises the Appendices to support the work in the first two parts and a reflective account of the research process.

Self-harm thoughts and behaviour have been found to be associated with a wide variety of distal and proximal factors; however, few studies have examined how these factors work together to increase the risk of self-harm. A key distal factor is a history of child and family adversity, which attachment theory views as a precursor of attachment insecurities that may increase the risk of later self-harm. A key proximal factor is the desire to escape from overwhelming distress, and Williams (2001) cry of pain model describes a process that could help better understand the reasons behind seeking escape via self-harm. This research investigated whether insecurely attached individuals tend to feel trapped and whether entrapment leads to self-harm thoughts (suicide ideation [Chapter 2] and thoughts about non-suicidal self-injury [Chapter 3]). This research also investigated whether feelings of entrapment among insecurely attached individuals varied as a function of problem-solving (as assessed with the Means-Ends Problem-Solving [MEPS] procedure [Chapter 4] and a diary study [Chapter 5]). The effect of stressful events on subsequent feelings of defeat and entrapment, and the role of attachment, was also examined using an experimental design (Chapter 6). Self-harm thoughts were common among insecurely attached individuals and among those who felt trapped. Entrapment was reported by insecurely attached individuals, but this feeling did not explain their self-harm thoughts nor did it vary as a function of problem-solving. In response to a laboratory stressor, attachment insecurities seem to exacerbate negative emotions. The findings suggest that assessment of attachment styles could help to identify individuals at risk of self-harm. Moreover, interventions aimed at reducing feelings of entrapment could decrease the risk of self-harm. Still, studies are needed to clarify the direction of the relationships between attachment, entrapment and self-harm, and the psychological mechanisms that might underlie these relationships.

This study sought to hear the narratives of individuals that have recovered from self-harming, with the intention of bearing witness to both the narratives and remaining scars in order to better understand and inform clinical practice. A purposive sample of seven individuals was recruited. Participants were asked to photograph their scars and bring them to an interview. Narratives were generated and explored through a relatively unstructured individual interview. Both the images and narratives were analysed using a narrative approach exploring content, performance and structural aspects, emphasising researcher reflexivity throughout. Findings were understood through psychoanalytic theory and highlighted a theme of validation and ‘being seen’, evidenced in stories of past invalidation that had been internalised into the self-structure and defended against by presenting a ‘defended’ self. Self-harm enabled this ‘unseen self’ to be expressed, validated and contained. Recovery was storied in terms of internalising experiences of validation, which enabled integration of the invalidated parts of the self. Many of the participants highlighted how their scars told a story of discovery; of becoming, coping and surviving. In the healing of scars this recovery is evident, but they may also continue to convey the unseen and unspoken experiences of pain, incoherence and invalidation. Self-harm and remaining scars may be understood as connecting, containing and re-embodying the internalised invalidation and ‘unseen’ aspects of the self. These findings are discussed with reference to the clinical implications, strengths and limitations of the methodology and directions for future research.