ABSTRACT
Mentally disordered offenders, or those who have committed serious offences and been determined to be suffering from mental illness, have multiple treatment needs. There are, however, a very limited number of evidence-based treatments available for these complex offenders. This study is a small-scale evaluation of an innovative form of music therapy, Group Cognitive Analytic Music Therapy (G-CAMT) for such offenders. This form of music therapy facilitates connection and relatedness with others through making music together, which may increase empathy, an important treatment goal for this population. The levels of affective empathy (the experience of other’s emotions), cognitive empathy (the understanding of other’s emotions) and disengagement (being present in the moment) of nine patients who received G-CAMT, additional to standard multi-disciplinary care, and six patients who received standard multi-disciplinary care (SMDC) only, were measured at baseline (pre-treatment), post-treatment, and again eight weeks after the treatment ended. The results suggested that affective empathy and cognitive empathy increased from pre- to post-treatment, while disengagement increased both for those who received G-CAMT and those who received standard care. There was also evidence that for the SMDC group, affective, and especially cognitive empathy continued to increase from post-treatment to follow-up, but this was less evident for the G-CAMT group. The limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.
