PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PRISON: THE FRAME IMPRISONED

Very little is written in the literature by or about clinicians providing psychotherapy in prison. This article will examine psychotherapy in prison through the criteria of Langs’ (Psychotherapy: A basic text. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson) therapeutic frame. These criteria include: stability and neutrality of the therapeutic setting, therapist anonymity, fee consideration, and confidentiality. I will use my experiences from various prison settings to examine similarities and differences between psychotherapy inside and outside prison.I wish to thank Drs. Jacqueline Helfgott, David Lovell and Lorna Rhodes for their generous time and suggestions toward making this, originally lengthy article, manageable and readable. I am solely responsible for whatever shortcomings remain.