Forensic Schema Therapy, Offence Mapping, and the Riddler

Forensic Schema Therapy (FST) was developed out of the need for more effective treatments for high-risk forensic patients with personality disorder. A key difference between forensic and clinical contexts is the need to make sense of criminal behaviour, as an important objective of psychological interventions within these contexts is the reduction of so-called risk of re-offending. The concept of schema ‘modes’, which refers to an emotional state or ‘part-of-self' that temporarily dominants a persons’ awareness, is key to mapping offending behaviours, and to understanding the underlying reasons and ‘function’ (i.e., needs met) of specific offending. ‘Modes’ can be understood as coping strategies that emerge in challenging childhoods whose function is get needs met. It is well documented that the typical childhoods of many forensic patients are difficult and painful. These patients do not expect to be cared about, understood, or treated with kindness. To them the world is a dangerous place where you can only rely on yourself, never show weakness, and, the end justifies the means, whatever that may entail. Indeed, in this world, it is the overcompensating modes that reign supreme, because these modes tend to ‘get on the front foot’ in response to problems utilizing a ‘shoot first - ask questions later’ type of algorithm.?

Violent or sexual offending rarely occurs in a vacuum. In most circumstances a closer analysis reveals a sequence of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive reactions that eventually culminates in offending.

‘Offence mapping’ is the process of identifying these sequences to assist with recognising repetitive patterns, early warning signs, and of course, changing things that may contribute to these problems. In FST offending is similarly understood as an unfolding sequence of schema modes, though usually triggered by the activation of vulnerable ones. A recent study by Keulen-De Vos and colleagues (2016) supports the use of schema modes in this way and found in a sample of 95 offenders a characteristic mode sequence to offending. An offence was usually preceded by the activation of vulnerable modes (such as the vulnerable and lonely child modes), as well as states of intoxication (detached Self-soother mode). This is then followed by a spiraling pattern of anger and impulsivity (Angry and Impulsive child mode), eventually culminating in the activation of an overcompensating mode and offending, such as, instrumental aggression (Predator mode) and intimidation (Bully and Attack mode).??

The recently released Batman movie (“The Batman”) is a useful starting point for learning more about FST, offence mapping and schema modes.?

“The Batman” tells the story of Edward Nashton (the Riddler) who grew up in the Gotham Orphanage. A gifted prodigy with a knack for solving puzzles and bookish demeanour was at stark odds with the rough and tumble of orphanage life. From an early age Edward was shunned by peers, dismissed by adults and invisible and irrelevant to the wider world. The subsequent death of Bruce Wayne’s parents led to the bankruptcy of the orphanage due to corruption, the only home Edward had ever known and despite his fraught and difficult childhood, was a source of stability and comfort to him.

“Do you know what being an orphan is? It's thirty kids to a room, twelve years old and already a drophead, you wake up screaming with rats chewing your fingers, and every winter one of the babies die because it's so cold." The Riddler to Batman?

The loss of funding to the orphanage forced the orphans, including Edward, to live in poverty for the rest of their childhoods. An experience that he felt both as abandonment and rejection by the Gotham community, feelings that were further amplified by the public outpouring of concern for the then recently orphaned - Bruce Wayne. These feelings and experiences inoculate in him a deep mistrust and resentment of others and a powerful desire for vengeance against the people that he identified as responsible for his predicament, the so-called elites of Gotham city.?

The concept of schema ‘modes’ refers to an emotional state or ‘part-of-self' that temporarily dominants a persons’ awareness, is key to mapping offending behaviours, and to understanding the underlying reasons and ‘function’ (i.e., needs met) of specific offending.?
        

Eleven years on, having secured work as forensic accountant and incidentally driving past his old orphanage, he decides to burn it down. This experience, however, was unexpectedly unsatisfying for him though represented a transformational moment in the story. His work as an accountant had exposed him to the corruption that remained in the city and that had been the cause of his difficult childhood. As the orphanage burns, we observe the emergence of overcompensating modes – intoxicating, powerful and invulnerable. Edward recognizes that what he really craves is power, recognition, and retribution for the injustices done to him and the emotional scars that he still carried (Vulnerable Child Mode).

In FST offending is understood as an unfolding sequence of schema modes, though usually triggered by the activation of vulnerable ones.
        

His subsequent crimes are meticulous and ruthlessly planned to cause maximum suffering in the victim and gain notoriety in the community (Obsessive Over-controller, Conning Manipulator, and Predator mode). He invites attention, gloats, and belittles the police, obviously revelling in a sense of superiority and notoriety (Self Aggrandizer and Bully and Attack Modes). Yet the Riddler feels an affinity with Batman (who he does not know is Bruce Wayne) believing that they have a shared goal of ridding Gotham of corruption and crime. In one of the final scenes, they eventually do meet, and learning that he had been wrong about Batman, he becomes distraught and then briefly inconsolable (vulnerable child modes), though realizing that Batman had not uncovered his grand plan, he flips into a cold, calculating and superior mode, obviously revelling in his sense of power and control as he sings ‘Ave Maria’ as one final riddle for Batman to solve.?

The Riddler’s backstory is unfortunately a familiar one to many forensic patients.

He grew in unsafe and unstable circumstances, where there was little love, attention, or nurturance to go round. He was rejected by peers, ignored by parental figures, and had the experience of being cast out by the wider community after the funding stopped to the orphanage. These emotional wounds, or Schemas, remained unresolved and led to the formation of a range of overcompensating modes (Predator, Conning Manipulator, Self-Aggrandizer, Obsessive Over-Controller) which became dominant and then drove his offending behaviours. Notably, underlying his apparent motives for his offending, appears very much to have been his unmet emotional needs – safety, justice, autonomy/self of identity, and competency.??

The FST model presents a framework for understanding and conceptualising offending behaviours. By focusing on schema modes, it allows offence-mapping that explicates risk factors which can be targeted with treatment. In this way schema modes can be understood as psychological risk factors that increase likelihood of offending and can be used to evaluate current risk and imminence of offending.?

References:?

Bernstein, D. P., Clercx, M., & Keulen‐De Vos, M. (2019). Schema therapy in forensic settings. In The Wiley International Handbook of Correctional Psychology (pp. 654-668). Wiley Blackwell.?

Keulen de Vos, M. E., Bernstein, D. P., Vanstipelen, S., de Vogel, V., Lucker, T. P., Slaats, M., & Arntz, A. (2016). Schema modes in criminal and violent behaviour of forensic cluster B PD patients: A retrospective and prospective study. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 21(1), 56-76.?

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