Aim: In the different psychiatric disorders the aggression often leads to uncontrolled events, taking aspects of impulsiveness and irrationality. Our research proposes the assessment of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with a psychiatric disorder, who presented an aggressive event.
Methods: The observational study was conducted on a sample of 50 patients (34 men and 16 women), hospitalized following the manifestation of an aggressive event. For each patient was provided an assessment of socio-demographic and clinical variables and a psychometric investigation through: the OAS, for the analysis of aggressive episodes; the BDHI, for the hostile behavior and attitudes; the BIS-11, for the impulsiveness and the BPRS for the psychopathological aspects.
Results: Among the socio-demographic features investigated, the highest correlation with aggressive behavior was related to the concomitant substance abuse, type of admission to psychiatric hospital and the male gender. The OAS has shown a greater propensity to directed-aggression in males with schizophrenia, and self-directed in females with major depression. The BPRS has shown a positive correlation between hetero-directed aggressive behavior and positive symptomatology, and between the self-directed and depression, risk of suicide, feelings of guilt and somatic concerns. The BDHI has indicated greater suspicion in women's group.
Discussion: The hypothesis that aggression is otherwise related to specific socio-demographic and clinical characteristics was confirmed by our study. The data suggest that early identification and assessment of potential risk factors involved in the genesis of aggressive episodes would allow the clinician to implement a better strategy for prevention and intervention.