Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:422-425
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Assaults on psychiatrists by patients
DJ Madden, JR Lion and MW Penna
The authors describe the results of a survey of 115 psychiatrists regarding
assaults by patients. Forty-eight psychiatrists stated that they had been
assaulted; a total of 68 assaults was reported. Psychiatrists were most
often assaulted in the early stages of their career or while they were
working in high-risk settings such as prisons or emergency rooms. Many
reported retrospectively that they might have had a role in provoking the
assault and that they could have anticipated it. The authors believe that
psychiatrists avoid dealing with the issue of violence by patients for a
variety of reasons, and they recommend that clinicians learn techniques for
managing potentially assaultive patients.
