Citation

McFall ME, Fontana A, Raskind M, Rosenheck RA. J. Trauma. Stress 1999; 12(3): 501-517.

Affiliation

Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1023/A:1024771121189

PMID

10467558

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that male Vietnam veterans seeking inpatient treatment for PTSD (n = 228) exhibit more violent behavior compared with a mixed diagnostic group of male psychiatric inpatients without PTSD (n = 64) and a community sample of Vietnam veterans with PTSD not undergoing inpatient treatment (n = 273). Violent acts assessed included property destruction, threats without a weapon, physical fighting, and threats with a weapon. PTSD inpatients engaged in more types of violent behavior than both comparison conditions. Correlates of violence among PTSD inpatients included PTSD symptom severity and, to a lesser degree, measures of substance abuse. These findings justify routine assessment of violent behavior among inpatient with PTSD, as well as application of specialized interventions for anger dyscontrol and aggression.

Language: en