Treating Mental Illness and Relational Concerns in Incarcerated Settings

Abstract

Rates of incarceration in the United States have grown dramatically over the past 50 years. These high rates of incarceration call for mental health and relational therapy to incarcerated individuals and their families. In conducting a literature review on incarceration, several topics emerged: mental illness, racial and ethnic disparity, and recidivism. When studying incarceration, mental illness is a necessary topic of inclusion due to high prevalence of mentally ill incarcerated individuals. When exploring issues related to incarceration, it is important to discuss diverse disparities to be able to put the individuals into context of their social location as well as address how contextual factors impact incarceration. The purpose of this article is to highlight the systemic, relational issues within incarcerated settings and then to display how treating mental illness and relational concerns allows for a healthier integration back into the family system. Clinical implications and future directions are also provided.

Family and Systems Theory in Counselor Education: A PRISMA Systematic Review

“…Some articles identified by the primary theme of Cybernetics directly reference the intersection of various forces as creating the interaction effect, such as with family of origin and career impact (Barclay et al, 2011; Dipeolu et al, 2020; Fider et al, 2014; Johnson et al, 2014; Lustig & Xu, 2018; Maddy et al, 2015; Makhija et al, 2019; McAdams et al, 2018; Porter & Henriksen, 2016; Waliski et al, 2012; Wright et al, 2020), family of origin and symptom development and treatment (Buser et al, 2014; Haiyasoso & Trepal, 2019; Lampis et al, 2020; Noble & Bradley, 2019; Noble et al, 2017; Wang et al, 2016; Watts et al, 2020; Williams et al, 2016), familial dynamics and spiritual development (Hooper & Newman, 2011; Jankowski & Hooper, 2014; Muselman & Wiggins, 2012), familial dynamics and developmental outcomes (Fish & Priest, 2011; Gold, 2013; He, 2017; Hoekstra & Katz, 2021; Kataoka & Tsuchiya, 2020; Lenz & Oliver, 2018; Li et al, 2018; Messina et al, 2018; Wilkinson & Dewell, 2019), and attachment development and impact (Bernardon & Pernice-Duca, 2012; Coffman & Swank, 2021; Myrick et al, 2014; Toof et al, 2020; Willcox et al, 2019). Others allude to cybernetics indirectly such as with physical disability and substance abuse (Feather et al, 2018), as well as other contextual factors like incarceration (Tadros, 2021; Tadros & Finney, 2018). The articles with this designation heuristic were further identified by two secondary themes: disorders and development.…”