Abstract
The association of dangerous behavior with the course of subsequent treatment was examined by comparing treatment courses of 45 severely mentally disabled patients identified as dangerous after an incident of dangerous behavior was noted in their clinical records with treatment courses of 122 severely mentally disabled patients who had no recorded incidents of dangerous behavior. The correlation of dangerousness with subsequent restrictiveness of treatment is clearly present in 6 of the 9 variables examined; the relationship generalizes across two rather different CMHC sites.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association.Task force report No. 8: Clinical aspects of the violent individual. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1974.
Bassuk, E. & Gerson, S. Chronic crisis patients: A discrete clinical group.American Journal of Psychiatry, 1980,137, 1513–1517.
Birns, H. & Levien, J.S. Dangerousness: Legal determinations and clinical speculations.Psychiatric Quarterly, 1980,52, 108–131.
Endicott, J., Spitzer, R.L., Fleiss, J.L. & Cohen, J. The Global Assessment Scale: A procedure for measuring overall severity of psychiatric disturbance.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1976,33, 766–771.
Hargreaves, W.A., LeGoullon, M., Gaynor, J., & Shumway, M. Longitudinal Inventory of Function and Encounters (LIFE) Coding Manual. Unpublished manuscript, 1983.
Hargreaves, W.A., LeGoullon, M., Gaynor, J., et al. Defining the severely mentally disabled.Evaluation and Program Planning, 1984,7, 219–227.
Monahan, J. The prediction of violent behavior: Toward a second generation of theory and policy.American Journal of Psychiatry, 1984,141, 10–15.
Neill, J.R. The difficult patient: Identification and responses.Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1979,40, 209–212.
Robbins, E., Stern, M., Robbins, L., et al. Unwelcome patients: Where can they find asylum?Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1979,24, 44–46.
Schwartz, S. & Goldfinger, S. The new chronic patient: Clinical characteristics of an emerging subgroup.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1981,32, 470–474.
Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California, Supp 131 Cal Reptr 14, 1976.
Tardiff, K. Violence: The psychiatric patient. In J. Turner (ed.).Violence in the medical care setting. Rockville, MD: Aspen Publications, 1984.
Tupin, J.P. The violent patient: A strategy for management and diagnosis.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1983,34, 356–363.
Whitmer, G.E. From hospitals to jails: The fate of California's deinstitutionalized mentally ill.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1980,50, 65–75.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The project was supported by grant MH34743 from the National Institute of Mental Health and BRSG grant S07-RR5755 awarded by the Biomedical Support Grant Program, Division of Research Resources, NIH.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rossi, A.M., Hargreaves, W.A. & Shumway, M. Dangerous behavior and changes in treatment course. Community Ment Health J 25, 209–217 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00754438
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00754438