Korean J Schizophr Res.  2015 Apr;18(1):10-15. 10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.10.

Correlates of Violence in Patients with Schizophrenia

• Choi J
• Park SC

• KMID: 2288312
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.16946/kjsr.2015.18.1.10

Abstract

Therapeutic social environments contribute to the successful treatment and rehabilitation for patients with schizophrenia. However, social stigmata of psychiatric disorder in our society have kept away schizophrenic patients from their recovery and adaptation. Many persons have thought that psychiatric patients are more violent and criminal because of overwhelming prejudice on untreated or mistreated patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this review is to propose the new and updated fundamentals of our knowledge on the relationship between schizophrenia and violence. In 1980s, many researchers have a belief that rates of criminal behavior vary independently on the rates of mental disorders. The following scientific studies on various population and meta-analyses of relevant data, overall violence rate have been higher in patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders than in healthy controls. Even though schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are associated with increased risk of homicide, the association has been not attributed to the psychopathology limited to schizophrenia. Most of all, co-occurrence of substance abuse has played an important role in increasing the possibility of violent behavior. The severe violent offending has been inclined to occur during the early period of psychotic episode before beginning the psychiatric treatment. Thus, most of the violent offending of schizophrenia patient can be prevented by prompt therapeutic interventions and treatments.

Keyword

Schizophrenia; Violence; Social stigma; Substance abuse; Homicide

MeSH Terms

Christianity
Criminals
Homicide
Humans
Mental Disorders
Prejudice
Psychopathology
Psychotic Disorders
Rehabilitation
Schizophrenia*
Social Environment
Social Stigma
Substance-Related Disorders
Violence*

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