Citation

Flannery RB, Farley EM, Tierney T, Walker AP. Psychiatr. Q. 2011; 82(1): 1-10.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA, raymond_flannery@hms.harvard.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11126-010-9152-0

PMID

20824338

Abstract

Empirical research demonstrates that patient assaults on staff are a worldwide occupational hazard. This study examined patient assailant characteristics in a 20-year longitudinal, retrospective study in one public health care system. Older male patients with schizophrenic illness and histories of violence toward others and substance use disorder and younger male/female patients with personality disorders and histories of violence toward others, personal victimization, and substance use disorder were the more frequent assailants. This was true at 10-, 15-, and 20-year periods. Specific clinical findings with regard to forensic patients, the violence triad, and victimization of women as well as methodological issues were discussed and the implications noted.

Language: en