Violence in psychiatric hospitals

Abstract

Violence was recognized and acknowledged as a problem in psychiatric hospitals much sooner than in other settings and, as a result, more research has been carried out in hospitals. In this chapter three main aspects of violence in psychiatric hospitals will be discussed: (i) the nature of such violence (frequency and severity); (ii) the patients who are more likely to engage in such behaviour; and (iii) the situations where violence is more likely to occur. It will become clear that recent research has focused on the first two areas and insufficient attention has been paid to the assaultive situation. Only when environmental and interpersonal factors are included in our explanations of why violence occurs in psychiatric hospitals will effective interventions to deal with the problem be made.