ABSTRACT

Less that twenty years ago, the orthodox teaching was that there was no statistical association between schizophrenia and violence. Epidemiology showed this assumption to be invalid. For example, Swanson et al (1990) found self-reported violence over the last 12 months in 2% of the general public, increasing to 8% when there was a diagnosis of ‘pure’ schizophrenia and to 13% if that diagnosis was combined with substance misuse or personality disorder. There have been other studies since but the message is similar and it could be argued that this finding has had more impact on the practice of psychiatry in the UK than any other recent discovery. Once it is accepted that violent behaviour is sometimes a complication of a mental illness, or other form of mental disorder, then risk management becomes a priority.