Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T04:00:19.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Violence by Psychiatric In-patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter Noble  and
Sheila Rodger
Peter Noble*
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital
Sheila Rodger
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital
*
∗The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A register of violent incidents showed a progressive increase in in-patient violence from 1976 to 1984, followed by a slight decline to 1987. The case notes of all 137 in-patients committing assaults during 1982 were analysed and compared with those of matched controls. Violence was often repetitive. The most common victims were nurses and then patients. The violent patients were more likely to be schizophrenic, deluded and hallucinated, and to have been repeatedly admitted. The violent and control groups had similar backgrounds, and both showed high levels of social isolation and unemployment. Violence tended to be repetitive, and the violent patients were usually identifiable from previous aggressive and disturbed behaviour. There was a high proportion of Afro-Caribbean patients who tended to be younger, more psychotic, and more seriously violent. Afro-Caribbeans were particularly likely to be detained compulsorily and treated in a locked ward.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 3 , September 1989 , pp. 384 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, G. D. M. (1982) Personal communication.Google Scholar
Aiken, G. D. M. (1984) Assaults on staff in a locked ward: prediction and consequences. Medicine, Science and the Law, 24, 199–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, L. & Brockington, I. A. (1980) Study of mental illness in Asians, West Indians and Africans living in Manchester. British Journal of Psychiatry 137, 201–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cochrane, R. & Bal, S. (1987) The epidemiology of mental illness among immigrants. Paper presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Spring Meeting.Google Scholar
Fottrell, E. (1980) A study of violent behaviour among patients in psychiatric hospitals. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 216–221.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fottrell, E., Bewley, T. & Squizzoni, M. (1978) A study of aggressive and violent behaviour among group psychiatric in-patients. Medicine and Science and the Law, 18, 66–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haller, R. M. & Deluty, R. H. (1988) Assaults on staff by psychiatric in-patients. A critical review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 174–179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heatlh Services Advisory Committee (1987) Violence to Staff in the Health Services. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Ineichen, B., Harrison, G. & Morgan, G. (1984) Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol. 1: Geographical and ethnic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 600–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlewood, R. (1986) Ethnic minorities and the Mental Health Act; patterns of explanation. Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 10, 306–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1981) Some social and phenomenological characteristics of psychotic immigrants. Psychological Medicine, 11, 289–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1988) Psychiatric illness among British Afro-Caribbeans British Medical Journal, 246, 950–951.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. (1987) The compulsory detention of males of different ethnic groups with special reference to offender patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 505–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monahan, T. (1984) The prediction of violent behaviour: toward a record generation of theory and policy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 10–15.Google Scholar
Moodley, P. & Thornicroft, G. (1988) Ethnic group and compulsory detention. Medicine, Science and the Law, 28, 324–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearson, M., Wilmot, E. & Podi, M. (1986) A study of violent behaviour among in-patients in a psychiatric hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 232–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Race Equality Unit (1984) Black and other minorities: Key Facts. London: London Borough of Southwark.Google Scholar
Rossi, A. M., Jacobs, M., Montelbone, M., et al (1986) Characteristics of psychiatric patients who engage in assaultive or other fear-inducing behaviour. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 174, 154–160.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tanke, E. D. & Yesavage, D. A. (1985) Characteristics of assaultive patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1409–1403.Google ScholarPubMed
Tardiff, K. (1981) Assault in hospital and placement in the community. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 93, 33–39.Google Scholar
Tardiff, K. & Sweilliam, A. (1982) Assaultive behaviour among chronic psychiatric inpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 212–215.Google Scholar
Werner, P. D., Rose, T. & Yesavage, J. A. (1983) Reliability, accuracy and decision-making strategy in clinical predictions of imminent dangerousness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 815–825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Minor Division of the International Classification of Diseases. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.