The risk of assaultive behavior in suicidal patients.

Overview

This study assessed the occurrence of assaultive behavior in a group of suicidal patients who were in psychiatric hospitals, many for long periods of time. Of the 94 suicidal patients, 42 (45%) patients physically assaulted other persons at least once in the 3 months preceding the survey. Although many patients manifested active psychotic psychopathology at the time of the survey, there were no significant differences between assaultive and non-assaultive suicidal patients in terms of the presence of psychosis. The sex, race, primary psychiatric diagnosis, and length of stay of patients also were not related to the occurrence of assaultive behavior in suicidal patients. Only youth and the presence of seizure disorders were related to increased risk of assaultive behavior in hospitalized suicidal patients. The author compares the findings of this study to his previous study of concurrent assault and suicide just before or at the time of admission to psychiatric hospitals.