The first results of psychomotor therapy (PMT) as an additional component to Aggression Replacement Training (ART) were explored in a group of forensic psychiatric inpatients (N D 37). Patients were divided into two groups: ARTCPMT (experimental group) and ARTCSports (control group). Primary outcome measures of aggression, anger, and social behavior, and secondary outcome measures of coping behavior and bodily awareness during anger were administered on three occasions: pretreatment, posttreatment (after 35 sessions), and follow-up (15 weeks after the final session). The combined group (experimental and control group) showed clinically significant improvements on observed social behavior, observed aggressive behavior, and self-reported anger, but there were no differences in treatment effects between the experimental group and the control group on these primary outcome measures. However, on secondary outcome measures of bodily awareness during anger and coping behavior, the experimental group displayed somewhat more improvement than the control group. Altogether, the results of this pilot study indicate that the addition of PMT to a treatment program for violent forensic inpatients may indeed result in improvements on specific treatment goals of PMT, whereas its effects on aggressive behavior needs further examination.

The effects of Aggression Replacement Training (ART) were explored in a group of Dutch violent young men aged 16 to 21 years, who were obliged by the court to follow a treatment program in a forensic psychiatric outpatient clinic. To evaluate the training, patients completed a set of self-report questionnaires at three moments in time: at intake/before a waiting period, after the waiting period/before the training, and after the training. During the waiting period, the patients did not change on most measures, although they displayed a significant increase in anger. The patients who completed the therapy scored significantly lower on psychopathy than the patients who dropped out. The training produced significant decreases in physical aggression and social anxiety and showed trends toward a decline in self-reported hostility, general aggression, and anger. After the training, the patients scored comparably with a reference group on measures of hostility and aggressive behavior. Altogether, these results provide tentative support for the efficacy of the ART for violent young men referred to forensic psychiatric outpatient settings.

Psychological determinants of aggressive behavior (personality traits and problem behaviors) in 59 Dutch female offenders (outpatients and detainees) were compared with those in 170 male offenders (outpatients and detainees) who were all convicted of a violent crime. The violent female offenders scored significantly higher on neuroticism and trait anger, and significantly lower on hostility than the male offenders; however, effect sizes were small. A subgroup of female forensic psychiatric outpatients did not differ from a subgroup of male outpatients on all measures, whereas a subgroup of female detainees scored significantly higher on anger and aggression, but lower on hostility and psychopathy than did a subgroup of male detainees. These first results might indicate that violent female offenders do not differ much from violent male offenders regarding personality traits and problem behaviors. The differences between both groups of violent offenders were largely borne by the subgroup of violent female detainees compared with the subgroup of violent male detainees.

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