An Assault on Assault

Abstract

10.1037/033210 Reviewed by Arnold P. Goldstein O. R. Lindsley (personal communication, 1965) spoke of three orientations to experimentation on intervention effectiveness. The “Rigorless Magician'” orientation is reflected in the “shoot from the hip,” “impressions-count-for-everything” stance held by the individual who eschews objective measurement of effect and relies totally on his or her “clinical judgement.” At the opposite extreme is the “Rigor Mortician,” so fixated on objective measurement that he or she sacrifices the richness, the uniqueness, and the individuality of the very phenomena being studied in the effort to obtain standardized measurement information. At an intermediate position, and to be recommended, is the “Rigorous Clinician.” Here, the balance of rigor of experimental design and measurement and relevance to the real world of those being studied is striven for. Clearly this book is the product of four rigorous clinicians. It begins with a tightly woven examination of the relevant literature on institutional violence, especially as manifested in psychiatric facilities and correctional institutions. Comprehensive in coverage and critical in appraisal, this review considers first the more reliably identified characteristics of perpetrators of assault in such settings: young, in acute distress, with poor coping skills, low functioning, and a high degree of disturbance. Anticipating the book’s major emphasis on the transactional nature of (particularly patient–staff) assaultive events, research on characteristic victims is also examined. Probabilistically, assault victims tend to be older and smaller than their assailants and (when staff) male more than female, inexperienced, authoritarian, and attacked during the course of issuing demands, imposing sanctions, setting limits, or refusing requests. Studies reporting both proactive and reactive assault intervention programming and evaluations of their efficacy are also well considered in this review section, including research on neuroleptic drugs, seclusion and mechanical restraint, diverse behavior modification procedures, and crisis intervention training. With this review as useful context, the authors proceed to offer both quantitative and qualitative foundation for