Mental Health and Incarcerated Youth. I: Prevalence and Nature of Psychopathology

The incarceration of mentally ill youth is a serious problem not receiving the same attention as in adults. In this study, we examine the prevalence of psychopathology and level of behavioral symptomatology in incarcerated youth versus youth receiving community mental health services or hospitalization. We randomly recruited youth from middle South Carolina served by a local CMHC (n = 60), youth served by the state adolescent inpatient program (n = 50), and youth in the S.C. Dept. of Juvenile Justice facilities from the same region (n = 75). We used the DISC-PC 2.3 to evaluate DSM-III-R diagnoses and the CBCL and YSR to evaluate behavioral symptomatology. On the DISC, incarcerated youth had significantly higher mean number of diagnoses and symptoms than CMHC youth, but lower numbers than hospitalized youth. Level of caseness (at least one diagnosis) was 86% in hospital youth, 72% in incarcerated youth, and 60% in CMHC youth. The groups differed in CBCL mean total T, internalizing T, and externalizing T scores as well as mean YSR internalizing T scores. Our results indicate the comparability in level of psychopathology in incarcerated and community-treated populations of youth, and the need to develop diversionary programs to prevent the entry of such youth into the juvenile justice system.     

Offering Support Group Services for Lesbians Living with HIV

In this paper, the authors describe their clinical experiences offering support group services for lesbians living with HIV. Two different group models were used, allowing for comparison of their effectiveness and relevance for this population. One was a closed membership, time-limited group; the other was an open membership, ongoing group. It is hoped that by communicating about the structure, organization, membership, facilitation, process, and content of the support groups, the authors might make it easier for others to initiate supportive interventions for this invisible population of women affected by the HIV epidemic.     

Children of Color and Parental Incarceration: Implications for Research,Theory, and Practice

Practical information about culturally appropriate interventions with children of incarcerated parents (CIPs) of color and their families is notably sparse. This study uses a cultural–ecological perspective to contextualize individual, family, and legal issues inherent in many intervention programs for CIPs of color. The authors highlight demographic trends, review research limitations, and discuss ways that therapeutic models can help counselors address their clients' needs. Recommendations are provided for future interventions with this underserved population. La información práctica sobre intervenciones culturalmente apropiadas con hijos de personas de color encarceladas (CIPs) por sus siglas en inglés y sus familias es notablemente escasa. Este estudio usa una perspectiva cultural‐ecológica para contextualizar los asuntos individuales, familiares y legales inherentes a muchos programas de intervención para CIPs. Los autores destacan las tendencias demográficas, las limitaciones en la investigación de reseñas, y discuten formas en las que los modelos terapéuticos pueden ayudar a los consejeros a abordar las necesidades de sus clientes. Se proporcionan recomendaciones para intervenciones futuras con esta población desatendida.     

Childhood Abuse,Head Injuries,and Use of Medical Emergency Services in People with Severe Mental Illness

People with severe mental illness (SMI) report high rates of traumatic experiences. This study analyzes data collected from 183 people diagnosed with SMI on reports of childhood trauma, head injuries, and emergency room (ER) services. More than half the cohort (56.7%) reported 3 to 7 cooccurring categories of childhood abuse (CAB). People who reported 6 and 7 categories of CAB had a 5-fold risk of experiencing a head injury. If they have used the ER for reasons other than psychiatric illness they endorse more traumatic experiences in their childhood when compared to those who did not. People with SMI and cooccurring CAB experiences might be predisposed to a higher risk of head injuries and more frequent use of the ER.     

Transgender Criminal Justice: Ethical and Constitutional Perspectives

People identifying as transgender or gender nonconforming (TGNC) face increased discrimination, harassment, and victimization compared to cisgender individuals (whose experienced gender matches their sex assigned at birth). Despite these increased discriminatory experiences, TGNC populations report hesitance to seek assistance from the criminal justice system due to concerns regarding revictimization and criminalization. TGNC individuals face an increased risk for interacting with the criminal justice system as a result of homelessness, socioeconomic status, and historical criminalization of their identities. Many TGNC individuals who experience incarceration report not only discrimination and verbal harassment but also physical and sexual abuse at the hands of criminal justice employees and other inmates. Thus, the incarceration experiences of TGNC individuals differ substantially from those of cisgender individuals. The negative implications of this differential are further exacerbated by a noteworthy lack of structured protocols regarding treatment of TGNC inmates. Existing policies violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The present article examines these arguments in relation to the American Psychological Association’s ethics code and relevant specialty guidelines and proposes ways that psychologists working with these institutions could apply their knowledge and skills to reduce human rights violations.     

Innovative Assessment of Childhood Trauma and Its Link to HIV and Substance Abuse in Post-Incarcerated Women

Women who are incarcerated often report unresolved early life traumas, which research has linked to subsequent HIV and substance abuse risks. This article presents an arts-based counseling technique used with women re-entering society after incarceration. Women were assessed for childhood trauma (i.e. sexual, emotional, and/or physical abuse) in relation to age of onset and frequency of events using an interactive pictorial assessment technique, Healing Me Timeline activity. The technique allowed women to use color-coded graphs in identifying points along a timeline during which traumatic events occurred and to process insights to foster healthy coping strategies. The timeline activity was an innovative and gender-appropriate method for uncovering the nature and extent of women’s trauma and counseling needs. Facilitators used the counseling tool to assist women in processing personal insights and to make referrals to mental health counseling, medical services, and substance use programs.     

Risk and Protective Factors in Mothers With a History of Incarceration: Do Relationships Buffer the Effects of Trauma Symptoms and Substance Abuse History?

A Sobel analysis reveals that peer relational health and perceived mutuality in partnerships buffer the effects of trauma symptoms on self-esteem, and perceived quality of mother-child relationships buffers the impact of trauma symptoms and history of alcoholism on depression. Statistically and clinically significant results demonstrate the positive impact of a healthy mother-child relationship on depression symptoms, and the influence of healthy peer and partner relationships on raising self-esteem for previously incarcerated mothers. These results indicate that feminist relational theorists of psychological development and trauma are correct in hypothesizing that healthy relationships are essential to recovery from trauma and emotional well-being.     

“They hate me now but where was everyone when I needed them?”: Mass incarceration,projective identification,and social work praxis

Mass incarceration has been thoroughly explored as a racial, social, and economic project. A psychoanalytic lens makes visible another dimension: the ways in which the dehumanization and criminalization of certain members of society forces them to function as repositories for the unbearable aspects of our otherwise shared humanity. In this article, I take a psychodynamic social work perspective and explore how the creation and maintenance of traumatogenic conditions, and the criminalization of the adaptations that people make to them, enables the logic of mass incarceration by taking a problem in the environment—one that implicates the collective—and relocates it inside the individual—as a person to be punished. Applying the concept of projective identification to these social-level dynamics, I argue that mass incarceration serves an important psychological function for society related to anxieties about racial and economic inequality and, as such, we continue to invest in mass incarceration despite its failure. I discuss its implications for social work praxis, emphasizing the need for both meaningful thought and effective action. I take an interdisciplinary approach and rely on psychoanalysis, sociology, criminology, and critical race studies in the hope of making clear the pernicious hold that mass incarceration has on the United States, and the work we must do as a collective to wrest ourselves from it.     

The Role of Familial Incarceration and Ethnic Identity in Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempt: Findings from a Longitudinal Study of Latinx Young Adults in California

Suicide is a leading cause of death among young adults; however, contextual risks and cultural factors are rarely studied in the context of ethnic minority suicidal ideation (SI) and suicidal attempt (SA). This study assessed the association between familial incarceration and suicide behaviors and examined ethnic identity as a potential moderator. Data from a longitudinal study of health among Hispanics (n = 1,094) in California were used to test associations between familial incarceration, ethnic identity, and SA and SI, adjusting for demographic factors and covariates. Approximately 18% and 8% of respondents reported SI and SA, respectively. Compared to no incarceration, or the incarceration of a relative, parental incarceration was associated with higher odds (AOR: 2.09, 95% CI: 1.23–3.34) of SI whereas higher affective ethnic identity reduced the odds (AOR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.31–0.89) of SA. Ethnic identity moderated the association between parental incarceration and SI (AOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.13–0.79). Incarceration of a family member can set the stage for exclusion from critical institutions and can have long‐term consequences for adult mental health. Promoting a positive ethnic identity may be a promising prevention strategy that could bolster resilience among at‐risk, urban minority youth.     

Children of Incarcerated Mothers

We review the literature on children whose mothers are incarcerated in jails or prisons. These children typically experience a great many risk factors besides their mothers' incarceration, including poverty, drug and alcohol problems in their families, community violence, and multiple changes in caregivers. Children's lives are greatly disrupted when mothers are arrested, and most children show emotional and behavioral problems. The impact this has depends on the age of the child, the alternate caregiving arrangements, and the course of the mother's incarceration. Children of incarcerated mothers experience internalizing (fear, withdrawal, depression, emotional disturbance) and externalizing (anger, fighting, stealing, substance abuse) problems, as well as heightened rates of school failure and eventual criminal activity and incarceration. Research in this area is scarce and often of poor quality. A research agenda which is guided by a transactional, ecological, and developmental model, and which examines children's well-being over the course of the mothers' incarceration is suggested.