Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:1409-1413
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Characteristics of assaultive patients who do and do not provide visible cues of potential violence
ED Tanke and JA Yesavage
Twelve assaultive psychiatric patients who had provided visible cues (i.e.,
verbal threats) of potential violence were compared on Brief Psychiatric
Rating Scale factor scores with 13 patients who had not provided such cues.
These groups differed from one another and from a group of 253
nonassaultive patients on one or more of the following dimensions: thinking
disorder, withdrawal-retardation, anxious depression,
hostile-suspiciousness, and activation. In addition, the factor scores
significantly predicted the occurrence of violence among patients who did
not exhibit visible cues.
