Using Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) Principles in the Treatment of Forensic Patients

Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP), from its inception, has focused on the centrality of unintegrated aggression and associated destructive impulses in severe borderline pathology. Clinicians treating forensic patients have identified the utility of TFP’s perspective in working with those patients who are chronically predisposed to acting out and showing antisocial behavior. This chapter examines: (1) the prototypes and psychopathological dimensions relevant to diagnostic assessment in the forensic population, (2) the TFP strategies requiring modification with this population, and (3) the evolution of forensic psychotherapy and the use of TFP principles for understanding different institutional contexts. The foundations of TFFP (transference-focused forensic psychotherapy) are described with attention to future developments that would advance its implementation.