Violence is always a consideration for anyone working in the field of mental health. The remit of this book then is ambitious and its readership potentially very broad, although the field of forensic psychiatry is an obvious focus. This book is only 144 pages long and, therefore, it might seem that this task would be unachievable, yet the structured and pragmatic nature of the book really worked well. The book opens with several shorter chapters looking at relevant legislation, safeguarding and risk assessment. One might comment that these chapters are relatively short and lacking in depth, however I think that these serve to improve one's awareness of their importance and to provide a useful overview, giving plenty of references for those that wish to look at these areas in more depth.
Moving through the book, it covers the pharmacological management of violence which is of particular relevance to medical staff, and helpfully comments on the applicable law which is always a welcome bit of revision. The authors also helpfully discuss the prevention and management of violence with reference to the community, adults and older adults and those with intellectual disability, but opted not to discuss the management of violence in children which would have been useful. Each chapter contains a helpful summary, and as such makes this book practical as a quick reference guide.
In summary, this is a very useful guide for all professionals having to deal with violence. It is clear and accessible, and written in a very understandable way, avoiding being focused towards solely medical staff. There are places for this to go though should a second edition be published, for example further information on the management of violence in children, and an entirely pedantic point is the use of ‘service user’ which ought to now be replaced with the much more sensible ‘patient’. Overall, one can learn a lot from this book and easily apply it to everyday practice.
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