The current research provides a unique insight into the challenges, progression, and self-change in men with PD [personality disorder] on the Fens OPD [Offender Personality Disorder] pathway. This is the first qualitative study to explicitly focus on the experience of this intense five-year therapeutic intervention. This research highlighted that crucial to an individual’s progression through treatment intervention was the ability to reflect upon their sense of self and past experiences, to shift narratives from disorder to order and gain new understanding of self and their trauma from therapeutic and other group member relationships. This article contributes to the evidence for the OPD pathway and provides a platform for further research into specific elements of the pathway that facilitate treatment progression of personality disordered people with convictions.
Blagden, N., Evans, J., Gould, L., Murphy, N., Hamilton, L., Tolley, C., & Wardle, K. (2023). “The People Who Leave Here Are Not the People Who Arrived.”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Therapeutic Process and Identity Transition in the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231165529