Schema therapy for aggressive offenders with personality disorders

Schema therapy (ST) is increasingly used in personality-disordered (PD) patients. ST is an integrative psychotherapy that blends elements of cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic and experiential approaches. The key concepts in ST are early maladaptive schemas, (dysfunctional) coping styles and schema modes or emotional states. Schema therapy has recently been adapted for forensic settings. In aggressive offenders with PDs, ST specifically focuses on those schema modes that are risk factors for aggressive, impulsive, and criminal behavior. In this chapter, we describe the rationale for ST, present our forensic adaptation of ST, and provide guidelines for clinical practice.