Overview

This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of how forensic systems impact on clients with personality disorder and vice versa. The unit will enable students to examine the types of assumptions, beliefs and motivations commonly present in people with difficult personalities, and will expand the repertoire of strategic responses that students can use to deal effectively with people with personality disorder.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
02-March-2026
31-May-2026
Last self-enrolment date
15-March-2026
Census date
31-March-2026
Last withdraw without fail date
21-April-2026
Results released date
07-July-2026

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Critically evaluate concepts central to personality and the types of features that make some personalities difficult
  • Apply advanced knowledge of how difficult personalities can contribute to offending
  • Appraise bias relevant to theories and principles of personality assessment and interventions, and the impact of this bias on marginalised populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • Analyse how difficult personalities impact on the forensic system, and reflect on their own interaction with personality disordered clients
  • Select appropriate interventions and management strategies for people with different personality disorders in the forensic context

Teaching methods

Hawthorn Online

Activity Type Activity Total Hours Number of Weeks Hours Per Week
Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning 150 12 weeks 12.5
Total Hours: 150 Total Hours (per week): 12.5

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Case Analysis Individual  25%  1,2,4,5 
Reflective Essay Individual  35%  2,4,5 
Case Study Individual  40%  1,2,3,4,5 

Content

  • What is personality
  • Grandiose, entitled and hostile personalities in the forensic context
  • Erratic, angry and self-harming personalities in the forensic context
  • Paranoid personalities in the forensic context
  • Antisocial and psychopathic personalities in the forensic context

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.