ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the provision of individual psychodynamic psychotherapy for offenders with a specific focus on those who have intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) reflecting the specialism of the author. Therapists pursue three central activities in psychodynamic psychotherapy therapy sessions: the gathering of information; the recontextualisation/formulation of the material; and the communication of potential meaning to the person. Psychodynamic therapists recontextualise the conscious content of the client's verbal and behavioural communications as transference. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, the main approach to intervention is through the provision of interpretations. One process of interpretation is through the application of the framework provided by Malan's two triangles. The psychotherapeutic literature contains various selection criteria concerning suitability for psychodynamic treatment. Recent special editions on forensic psychotherapy in the journals Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies only included anecdotal and case report evidence for psychodynamic psychotherapy.
