'Coping Inside?': The prevalence of anxiety and OCD amongst incarcerated young offenders and an evaluation of a one-day CBT workshop

Abstract

Incarcerated UK young offenders were screened and offered a one-day low intensity (four-hour) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) group workshop if they met criteria for an Anxiety and/or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Sixty-six per cent of 684 (n = 451) young offenders were screened, revealing high rates of anxiety (21-43%) and OCD (73%). Despite attrition following prison issues, 106 (58% of referrals) attended a 'Coping Inside' workshop resulting in a significant decrease in participants' cognitive self-consciousness, and trends towards decreases in maladaptive beliefs about superstition and responsibility, slowness and avoidant or detached coping styles. However, the 'dose' of interv..