Moving Away from Attack Therapy

Abstract

“The Game”—an aspect of Attack Therapy—is described as a sophisticated version of “Courtroom.” Clients who assume the roles of Smoothy, Brash, or Unimportant in “The Game” tend to continue to act out these roles in criminal endeavors after leaving the therapy group. “The Game” is considered to be ineffective for much of the criminal population with which it is used. A structural analysis of C₂ is described, and identifies the negative constellation of P_1–, A_1–, and C_1–, and the positive constellation of P₁₊, A₁₊, and C₁₊. These constellations are experienced by the criminal clients as being mutually exclusive, and their complementarity is unrecognized. Emphasis in therapy is upon synthesizing the two constellations to provide a more appropriate P₁, A₁, and C₁. Samenow and Yokelson's (The Criminal Personality) discussion of the extensive thinking and mental rehearsal which often precedes commitment of a crime are emphasized, and an approach utilizing the recording and analysis of the thinking of criminal clients is presented.