Therapeutic writing groups with a forensic inpatient population

ABSTRACT

Writing groups have been implemented in a variety of inpatient psychiatric settings, with reports that groups contribute to patients’ sense of mastery and belonging. However, no published research has examined the impact of writing groups in forensic inpatient populations. Additionally, there is limited quantitative data on the impact of writing groups in adult mental health populations. In this study, 17 patients adjudicated Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity/Mental Health and court-committed to long term treatment at a forensic mental health hospital participated in at least one of four, week writing groups offered by the hospital’s psychology department. Groups ran weekly for either 7 or 8 weeks and were either 45 or 55 min long. Overall, participants reported high satisfaction with the writing groups. Participants reported benefiting from having the opportunity to share their writing with their peers, writing about difficult topics, practicing communication and expression, and practicing real-world artistic skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Therapeutic writing
• therapy groups
• writing groups
• forensic adults
• forensic treatment
• Not Guilty by Reason of Mental Illness

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Poetic Justice, an Oklahoma-based non-profit that provided writing prompts and material for use in the writing groups at the Oklahoma Forensic Center. In addition, we would like to thank the staff at the Oklahoma Forensic Center, especially Nicole Stark, M.A., and Jennifer Hale, Ph.D., for their help in conducting this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).