Objective: The relationship between alcohol and substance use and the risk of violence exhibited by patients with mental disorders is under-researched. This prospective cohort study aims to compare patients with severe mental disorders and with different substance use behaviors in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, hostility, impulsivity and aggressive behaviors. Furthermore, this study aims to assess differences in violent behaviors during a 1-year monitoring follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Metacognitive functions play a key role in understanding which psychological variables underlying the personality might lead a person with a severe mental disorder to commit violent acts against others. The aims of this study were to: (a) investigate the differences between patients with poor metacognitive functioning (PM group) and patients with good metacognitive functioning (GM group) in relation to a history of violence; (b) investigate the differences between the two groups in relation to aggressive behavior during a 1-year follow-up; and (c) analyze the predictors of aggressive behavior.
Methods: In a prospective cohort study, patients with severe mental disorders with and without a lifetime history of serious violence were assessed with a large set of standardized instruments and were evaluated bi-monthly with MOAS in order to monitor any aggressive behavior.
In Severe Mental Disorders (SMDs) the most important cognitive deficits involve the Executive Functions (EFs). In this study we examined the association between EFs and aggressive behaviour in outpatients with SMDs. We included a total of 247 outpatients divided into two groups: 'cases', patients with a history of violence (N=126) and 'non-violent' (N=121).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of the project was to investigate differences between outpatients with Severe Mental Disorders (SMDs) with and without a history of Self-Harm behaviour (SHb) and/or Violent behaviour against other people (Vb) in relation to: (a) socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, (b) violent behaviour during a 1-year FU, (c) predictors of SHb and Vb during the FU. Outpatients with SMDs, with and without a history of Vb were enrolled. They were divided in four groups: patients with lifetime Vb (V), patients with both Vb and SHb (V-SH), patients with only SHb (SH) and patients with no history of SHb and Vb (control group, CONT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the association between maladaptive personality traits, personality disorders (PDs), schizophrenia, and the risk of aggressive behavior. Ninety-four patients with a history of violence and 92 patients with no history of violence underwent a multidimensional baseline assessment. Aggressive behavior was monitored during a 1-year follow-up through the Modified Overt Aggression Scale.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci
September 2020
Evidence for an association between impaired facial emotion recognition and violence in people with schizophrenia is inconclusive. In particular, the role of misidentification patterns involving specific emotions such as anger and the influence of clinical characteristics on this association remain unclear. In this study, we compared facial emotion recognition performance in age- and gender-matched schizophrenia spectrum disorders subjects with (N = 52) and without (N = 52) a history of violence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The management of mentally ill offenders in the community is one of the great challenges imposed on community psychiatry.
Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors and violent behavior in a sample of outpatients with severe mental disorders.
Method: This was a prospective cohort study with a baseline cross-sectional design used to provide a detailed analysis of patients' profiles, followed by a longitudinal design to measure aggressive and violent behavior during a 1-year follow-up.