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The investigation of acting on delusions as a tool for risk assessment in the mentally disordered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Alec Buchanan
Alec Buchanan*
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
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Extract

Not everyone thinks that psychiatrists have much to offer in a discussion of dangerousness. The first point made by the advocates of this position is that psychiatrists get it wrong much of the time when they predict violence. The second point is that they do not use clinical information to predict. Exactly how much of the time they get it wrong is the subject of some debate. Those hostile to the idea of medical involvement in risk assessment argue that psychiatrists and psychologists are wrong 95% of the time when they predict violent behaviour (Ennis, 1972). Even sometime supporters of clinical intervention contend that psychiatrists and psychologists are wrong at least twice as often as they are right when they predict violence (Monahan, 1984).

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 170 , Issue S32: Assessing risk in the mentally disordered , April 1997 , pp. 12 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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