- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- 9.1 General issues
- 9.2 Clinical syndromes
- 9.3 Situations affecting child mental health
- 9.4 The child as witness
- 9.5 Treatment methods for children and adolescents
- Section 10 Intellectual Disability (Mental Retardation)
- Section 11 Forensic Psychiatry
- 11.1 General principles of law relating to people with mental disorder
- 11.2 Psychosocial causes of offending
- 11.3 Associations between psychiatric disorder and offending
- 11.4 Mental disorders among offenders in correctional settings
- 11.5 Homicide offenders including mass murder and infanticide
- 11.6 Fraud, deception, and thieves
- 11.7 Juvenile delinquency and serious antisocial behaviour
- 11.8 Child molesters and other sex offenders
- 11.9 Arson (fire-raising)
- 11.10 Stalking
- 11.11 Querulous behaviour: vexatious litigation, abnormally persistent complaining and petitioning
- 11.12 Domestic violence
- 11.13 The impact of criminal victimization
- 11.14 Assessing and managing the risks of violence towards others
- 11.15 The expert witness in the Criminal Court: assessment, reports, and testimony
- 11.16 Managing offenders with psychiatric disorders in general psychiatric services
- 11.17 Management of offenders with mental disorder in specialist forensic mental health services
Assessing and managing the risks of violence towards others
- Chapter:
- Assessing and managing the risks of violence towards others
- Author(s):
Paul E. Mullen
and James R. P. Ogloff
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0267
Assessing and managing the risk of our patients being violent towards others now occupies a prominent position in virtually all forms of mental health practice, but it remains a contentious area. At the highest level researchers, psychometricians, and statisticians argue about almost every aspect, even whether anything useful can be said about individual outcomes rather than group indicators. At the next level an industry flourishes of selling training, and risk assessment tinstruments, to those who then appear as experts in a wide range of mental health and criminal justice contexts. On the ground, almost everyone in mental health is drawn into filling out purpose-designed forms and complying with protocols, most of little or no demonstrated validity. This chapter is intended to make clinicians aware of both the possibilities and limitations of existing approaches to the assessments of risk. Given that there is no reason for mental health professionals to evaluate risk without gaining information to manage it, this chapter will also address the management of risk for aggression and violence.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- 9.1 General issues
- 9.2 Clinical syndromes
- 9.3 Situations affecting child mental health
- 9.4 The child as witness
- 9.5 Treatment methods for children and adolescents
- Section 10 Intellectual Disability (Mental Retardation)
- Section 11 Forensic Psychiatry
- 11.1 General principles of law relating to people with mental disorder
- 11.2 Psychosocial causes of offending
- 11.3 Associations between psychiatric disorder and offending
- 11.4 Mental disorders among offenders in correctional settings
- 11.5 Homicide offenders including mass murder and infanticide
- 11.6 Fraud, deception, and thieves
- 11.7 Juvenile delinquency and serious antisocial behaviour
- 11.8 Child molesters and other sex offenders
- 11.9 Arson (fire-raising)
- 11.10 Stalking
- 11.11 Querulous behaviour: vexatious litigation, abnormally persistent complaining and petitioning
- 11.12 Domestic violence
- 11.13 The impact of criminal victimization
- 11.14 Assessing and managing the risks of violence towards others
- 11.15 The expert witness in the Criminal Court: assessment, reports, and testimony
- 11.16 Managing offenders with psychiatric disorders in general psychiatric services
- 11.17 Management of offenders with mental disorder in specialist forensic mental health services