Violent behaviour by psychiatric patients.

There is no substantial body of evidence to prove that psychiatric patients as a group are more violent than the general population. In determining whether violence is exhibited, the underlying personality of the individual is far more important than the psychiatric illness from which he suffers. Individuals with psychopathic personalities, those who abuse or are dependent on alcohol drugs, and those with pronounced paranoid or sadistic traits may be characterized by aggressive and violent behaviour. There is at present no reliable method of predicting if or when an individual patient will exhibit assaultive behaviour. Psychiatric hospitals, especially in the UK, are characterized more by frequent petty violence than by serious violence. Victims of assaults by patients are often related or known to them an interact with them on a personal level; they may also play a considerable role consciously or otherwise in instigating the assault.