Aims: To assess in a sample of people with mental disorders: 1) fear of crime and perceived insecurity; 2) the association between fear of crime and insecurity; 3) the incidence of crimes.
Methods: Twenty-four Italian mental health centres have been invited to participate in the study from the network of the Early Career Psychiatrists' Committee of the Italian Psychiatric Association. In each participating centre, the first 20 patients consecutively accessing the mental health centre between February and April 2011 have been recruited. All patients have been assessed using validated assessment tools.
Results: The final sample consists of 426 patients. They are mostly female (70.1%), with a mean age of 45 years (± 13.5), and with a good level of education. Fifty-two percent of patients have a diagnosis of mood disorders, and 37.8% on anxiety spectrum disorders. About half of the sample declares that the most prominent feeling toward life is uncertainty. Almost all patients report to have at least one big fear, with the most frequently report being: 1) loss or death of a loved one (41.2%); 2) financial constraint (28.4%); 3) physical or mental health problems (26.5%).
Discussion and conclusions: Our results show the presence of a common sense of uncertainty among patients, probably as a result of the historical moment we are facing. It is reasonable that this attitude toward life can have a detrimental impact on patients' psychological and physical wellbeing, contributing to high levels of distress. Further studies are needed in order to clarify the possible relationship between fears, uncertainty and mental disorders.