Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:04:32.517Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Clinical specificity of prison inmates with severe mental disorders

A case-control study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Gilles Côté*
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Trois-Riviéres, and Centre de I'institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal, Québec, Canada
Alain Lesage
Affiliation:
Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Montréal, and Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
Nadia Chawky
Affiliation:
Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Montréal, and Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
Michel Loyer
Affiliation:
Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Montréal, and Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
*
Dr Gilles Côté, Centre de Recherche de l'lnstitut Philippe Pinel, 10905, Boul. HenriBourassa est, Montréal, Québec HIC IHI, Canada

Abstract

Background

We wished to determine whether prison inmates with severe mental disorders possess specific clinical characteristics compared with psychiatric in-patients suffering from similar problems.

Method

Under a case-control design, 69 male prison inmates suffering from a schizophrenic or major affective disorder were matched for age and diagnostic spectrum to 60 male psychiatric in-patients. Standardised interviews were used to diagnose psychiatric disorders according to DSM-111-R and social functioning criteria. Case-notes were reviewed to cull data regarding social life, criminal record and service use.

Results

Inmates were more likely to suffer from delusional/NOS psychotic disorders (72%) or major depression (70%), and psychiatric in-patients from schizophrenic or bipolar disorder (62% and 71%, respectively). Comorbidity was more prevalent among inmates than among in-patients, while in-patients presented less social autonomy than did inmates.

Conclusions

The clinical specificity of prison inmates with severe mental disor ders clearly differentiates them from psychiatric in-patients, and warrants recognition of their special needs for assessment and integrated treatment approaches.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akman, D. D. & Normandeau, A. (1966) Constructing a Crime and Delinquency Index in Canada. Montreal: Centre for the Study of Criminal Statistics, Department of Criminology, University of Montreal Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1967) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA Google Scholar
Blasi, A. (1976) Concept of development in personality theory. In Ego Development (ed. Loevinger, J.). pp. 2953. San Francisco. CA: Jossey-Bass Google Scholar
Côté, G. & Hodgins, S. (1990) Co-occurring mental disorders among criminal offenders. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 18, 271281.Google Scholar
Dixon, L., Haas, G., Weiden, P. J., et al (1991) Drug abuse in schizophrenic patients: clinical correlates and reasons for use. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 224230.Google Scholar
Drake, R. E. & Wallach, M. A. (1989) Substance abuse among the chronically mentally ill. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40, 10411046.Google Scholar
Khantzian, E. J. (1985) The self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: focus on heroin and cocaine dependence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 12591264.Google Scholar
Lamb, H. R. (1984) Deinstitutionalization and the homeless mentally ill. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 35, 899907.Google Scholar
Lewis, G. & Appleby, L. (1988) Personality disorder: the patients psychiatrists dislike. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 4449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mischel, T. (1979) Piaget and the nature of psychological explanations. In The Impact of Piagetian Theory (ed. Murray, F. B.), pp. 89107. Baltimore. MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
Palermo, G. B., Smith, M. B. & Liska, F. J. (1991) Jails versus mental hospitals: a social dilemma. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 35, 97106.Google Scholar
Pepper, B., Kirshner, M. C. & Ryglewicz, H. (1981) The young adult chronic patient: overview of a population. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 32, 463469.Google Scholar
Schooler, N., Hogarty, G. & Weissman, M. M. (1979) Social Adjustment Scale II (SAS-II). In Resource Materials for Community Mental Health Program Evaluators (eds W. A. Hargreaves, C. C. Attkisson & J. E. Sorenson), pp. 290330. Washington, DC: US Department of Health, Education and Welfare.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B. W., Gibbon, M., et al (1989) Instruction Manual for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SOD, 5/1/89 Revised). New York: Biometrics Research Department, New York State Psychiatric Institute.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W. (1994) Mental disorder, substance abuse, and community violence: an epidemiological approach. In Violence and Mental Disorder: Developments in Risk Assessment (eds J. Monahan & H. J. Steadman). pp. 101136. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. (1982) Schizophrenia and violence. In Abnormal Offenders, Delinquency, and the Criminal Justice System (eds J. Gunn & D. P. Farrington), pp. 269284. Toronto: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. & Gunn, J. (1984) Violence and psychosis: I. Risk of violence among psychotic men. British Medical purnal, 288, 19451949.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, P. & Gunn, J., Garety, P. & Buchanan, A. (1994) Delusions and violence. In Violence and Mental Disorder Developments in Risk Assessment (eds J. Monahan & H. J. Steadman). pp. 161182. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Google Scholar
Teplin, L. A. (1984) Criminalizing mental disorder: the comparative arrest rate of the mentally ill. American Psychologist. 39, 794803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teplin, L. A. (1990) The prevalence of severe mental disorder among male urban jail detainees: comparison with the Epidemiologic Catchment Area program. American Journal of Public Health, 80, 663669.Google Scholar
Toch, H. & Adanns, K. (1989) The Disturbed Violent Offender. New Haven: Yale university Press Google Scholar
Travin, S. & Protter, B. (1982) Mad or bad? Some clinical considerations in the misdiagnosis of schizophrenia as antisocial personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 13351338.Google Scholar
Weiss, W. & Osiason, J. (1990) Engaging treatment-resistant young adult chronic patients: a developmental approach. In Psychiatry Takes to the Streets: Outreach and Crisis Intervention for the Mentally III (ed. Cohen, N. L.). pp. 177192. New York: Guilford Press Google Scholar
Weller, M. P. I. & Weller, B. G. A. (1988) Crime and mental illness. Medicine, Science and the Law, 28, 3846.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, J. B. W. Gibbon, M., First, M. B., et al (1992) The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). II: Multisite test-retest reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 630636.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolfgang, M. E., Figlio, R. M., Tracy, P. E., et al (1985) The National Survey of Crime Severity. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice Google Scholar
Adams, W. & Kendell, R. E. (1996) Influenza and schizophrenia (letter). British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 791792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crow, T. J. (1996) Influenza and schizophrenia (letter). British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 790791.Google Scholar
Crow, T. J., Done, D. J. (1992) Prenatal exposure to influenza does not cause schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 390393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crow, T. J., Done, D. J., Johnstone, E. C. (1991) Schizophrenia and influenza. Lancet, 338, 116117.Google Scholar
Mednick, S. A., Mechon, R. A., Huttunen, M. O., et al (1988) Adult schizophrenia following prenatal exposure to an influenza epidemic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 45, 189192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Callaghan, E., Sham, P., Taloei, N., et al (1991) Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to the 1957 A2 influenza epidemic. Lancet, 337, 12481250.Google Scholar
Adams, W. & Kendell, R. E. (1996) Influenza And Schizophrenia(Letter). British Journal Of Psychiatry 169, 252253.Google Scholar
Adams, W. & Kendell, R. E. (1996) Influenza and schizophrenia (letter). British Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 791792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birchwood, M., Mcgorry, P. & Jackson, H. (1997) Early intervention in schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 25.Google Scholar
Eaton, W. W., Romanowski, A., Anthony, J., et al (1991) Screening for psychosis in the general population with a self-report interview. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 179, 689693.Google Scholar
Hennekens, C. & Buring, J. (1987) Epidemiology in Medicine, pp.334335. Boston, MA: Little Brown & Company Google Scholar
Yting, A. R., McGorry, P. D., McFarlane, C. A., et al (1996) Monitoring and care of young people at incipient risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 283305.Google Scholar
Reid, A. H. Reid, A. H. (1997) Mental handicap or learning disability. A critique of political correctness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 1.Google Scholar
Appleby, L., Shew, J. & Amos, T. (1997) National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by Pteople with Mental Illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 101102.Google Scholar
Bell, S. S., Marsh, J. T., Schubarth, G., et al (1989) Longitudinal P300 latency changes in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Gerontology, 44, MI95–M200.Google Scholar
St Clair, D, Blackburn, I., Blackwood, EX, et al (1988) Measuring the course of Alzheimer's disease. A longitudinal study of neuropsychological function and changes in P3 eventrelated potential. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 4854.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swanwick, G. R. J., Coen, R. F., O'Mahony, D., et al (1996) The clinical application of electrophysiological markers in the differential diagnosis of depression and very mild Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 60, 8286.Google Scholar
Swanwick, G. R. J., Coen, R. F., O'Mahony, D., Rowan, M.J., Coen, R. F., et al (1996) Longitudinal visual evoked potentials in Alzheimer's disease. A preliminary report. Biological Psychiatry, 39, 455457.Google Scholar
Armstrong, M., Daly, A. K., Blennerhasset, R., et al (1997) Antipsychotic drug-induced movement disorder in schizophrenics in relation to CYP2D6 genotype. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 2326.Google Scholar
Schooler, N. C. & Kane, J. M. (1982) Research diagnoses for tardive dyskinesia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 486487.Google Scholar
Bernstein, E. & Putnam, F. (1986) Developmenrt, reliability, and validity of adissociation sncale. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 74, 727735.Google Scholar
Fahy, T. A. (1988) The diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. A critical review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 597606.Google Scholar
Merskey, H. (1992) The manufacture of personalities. The production of multiple personality disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 160, 327340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nijenhuls, E. R. S., Spinhoven, P., Van Dyck, R., et el (1996) The development and the psychometric characteristics of the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ−20). Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184, 688694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nijenhuls, E. R. S., Spinhoven, P., Van Dyck, R., et al (1997) The development of the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ-5) as a screening instrument for dissociative disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinberg, M., Ckhetti, D. V., Buchanan, J., et al (1993) Clinical assessment of dissociative symptoms and disorders: The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM - IV Dissociative Disorders. Dissociation, 6, 316.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.