Citation

Milton J, Amin S, Singh SP, Harrison G, Jones P, Croudace TJ, Medley I, Brewin J. Br. J. Psychiatry 2001; 178: 433-440.

Affiliation

East Midlands Centre for Forensic Mental Health, Leicester, UK. John.Milton@arnoldl.cnhc-tr.trent.nhs.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11331559

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent research has reported increased risk of aggressive incidents by individuals with psychotic illness. AIMS: To examine acts of aggression in first-episode psychosis. METHOD: Subjects with a first-episode psychosis were ascertained from a defined catchment area (Nottingham, UK) and reassessed at 3 years (n=166) using clinical interview, informants, health care and forensic records. RESULTS: Of the subjects, 9.6% demonstrated at least one act of serious aggression (defined as weapon use, sexual assault or victim injury) during at least one psychotic episode and 23.5% demonstrated lesser acts of aggression (defined as all other acts of aggression). For all aggressive subjects (33.1%), unemployment (OR=3.6, 95% C11.6-8.0), comorbid substance misuse (OR=3.1, C1 1.1-8.8) and symptoms of overactivity at service contact (OR=6.9,C1 2.7-17.8) had independent effects on risk of aggression. CONCLUSIONS: We confirmed some previously reported demographic and clinical associations with aggression in first-episode psychosis but no relationship with specific psychotic symptoms or diagnostic groups was observed.

Language: en