Violent Psychiatric Ward Patients Fit 'Profile'

[The Straight Story]

Violent Psychiatric Ward Patients Fit 'Profile'

SAN FRANCISCO – People diagnosed with psychotic disorders, mental retardation, or personality disorders are more likely to be violent psychiatric inpatients.

Those who were physically or sexually abused as children and who’ve had long-term or multiple psychiatric hospitalizations also appear to be more prone to violence, researchers from the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York, found when they compared 30 violent and 30 nonviolent patients.

The idea of the study was to come up with a profile of violent patients so staff "know who they are dealing with" and can take precautions, said lead investigator Dr. Andrei Nagorny, a psychiatry resident at the hospital, said at the American Psychiatric Association’s Institute on Psychiatric Services.

Some of the findings have been incorporated into screening questions in the hospital’s electronic medical records system, and more may be, he said.

http://www.clinicalpsychiatrynews.com/single-view/violent-psychiatric-ward-patients-fit-profile/bd39234250.html

[HereSince1628]

1. Looks inadequate in a number of ways

sort of typical studies using limited available records. For example, there's enough evidence from multiple studies to accept that that violence is inversely related to age and the two groups in this study aren't well matched by age.

Other critera for the groups appear similarly not well matched.

[DCKit]

2. Additionally, most people tend to react to the way they're being treated.

The average orderly is likely to do their job with an emphasis on conservation of time and effort, not the physical and/or mental comfort of the patient.

I call BS.