Violence Risk Assessment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Piel ◽  
Ronald Schouten
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Violence Risk ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
The Public ◽  
Core Skill ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Violent Acts ◽  
Single Standard

The problem of violence in our society has received increasing attention from the public and mental health professions in recent years, and assessing the risk of violence has become a core skill for mental health clinicians and forensic specialists alike. In fact, mental health practitioners in all clinical settings are tasked with assessing and managing their patients’ risk of violence. Although research on the nature of violence and factors that increase the likelihood that a person will commit violent acts has grown in the past several decades, there is no single standard protocol or tool for assessing the risk of violence. This chapter reviews the key risk factors for violence that are supported by research, examines the relationship between mental disorders and violence, and describes approaches that mental health professionals can use to assess the risk of violence.

Step 6: Talking More About Confidentiality: Educating Each Other and the Public

2013 ◽  
pp. 123-136
Author(s):  
Mary Alice Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Training And Supervision ◽  
Shared Language ◽  
Student Training

Chapter 9 is about the importance of creating conversations, how therapists’ policies about confidentiality are not confidential, and that the dilemmas therapists face in upholding their policies can be talked about, with each other and with others, as long as patients are not identified. It also discusses the shared language that all mental health professionals can use for creating clearer conversations with each other about this difficult aspect of practice, and that can be helpful for structuring student training and supervision about confidentiality, for teaching staff and employees in clinical settings, and for writing on the topic in academic and clinical journals, as well as for educating attorneys, judges, legislators, and the public.

Emotionalising the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: on the civil society engagements of Israeli mental health professionals in response to the Palestinian uprisings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Brunner ◽  
Galia Plotkin Amrami
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
First Intifada ◽  
The Individual

This article explores how Israeli mental health practitioners emotionalised the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by intervening in the public sphere. Based on a close reading of texts produced by two Israeli civil society associations of psy-professionals – Imut and Natal – we analyse and compare two languages of emotion that they developed in response to two Palestinian uprisings, the First Intifada of 1987–93 and the Al Aqsa Intifada of 2000–05. This allows us to point to differences and similarities in the ways these two associations articulated, conceptualised and represented emotions that they attributed to the Israeli-Jewish collective. Imut voiced a critical and openly political response to the outbreak of the First Intifada, while Natal adopted an ostensibly apolitical position that affirmed mainstream Israeli politics in response to the Al Aqsa Intifada. Though they differed in their politics, both Imut and Natal emotionalised the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in a dual fashion. They depicted emotions as forces (a) whose dynamics have to be understood in order to grapple with the conflict, and (b) whose detrimental effects have to be controlled through proper management. Thus, both associations portrayed emotions as an instrument for understanding the political situation and as a powerful tool to achieve social and political aims. Though both Imut and Natal emotionalised the conflict in their civil society interventions, neither of them depoliticised it. Rather, they transposed the psychological from the individual to the social level, thus embedding it in a dialectic in which the politicisation of the psychological leads to a non-reductionist emotionalisation of the political.

Better Understanding Psychosis: Psychospiritual Considerations in Clinical Settings

2020 ◽  
pp. 002216782090462
Author(s):  
Brian Spittles
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Mental Health Practitioners ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Mental Health Profession ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Clinical Dilemma ◽  
Diagnosis Approach

Throughout history, mental health professionals have generally endorsed an understanding of psychosis that occludes the consideration of possible psychospiritual determinants. However, in light of the similarities between psychotic and benign psychotic-like psychospiritual experiences, this article argues for the inclusion of psychospiritual matters in psychosis research and therapeutic practices. First, the relevance of psychospiritual considerations to mental health professionals is substantiated by examining literature whereby commentators seek to discern psychosis from nonpsychopathological psychotic-like experiences that often occur within psychospiritual contexts. Next, I step beyond this binary differential diagnosis approach to examine the possibility that psychotic and psychospiritual experiences share a common source and are intrinsically connected and indiscernible. Finally, I propose that this clinical dilemma may be redressed via the study and application of technologies of consciousness. Accordingly, I argue that the incorporation of psychospiritual research into better understanding psychosis calls for radical epistemological, diagnostic, and therapeutic changes within the mental health profession. Indeed, it appears that clinical efficacy may be advanced through mental health practitioners attaining expertise in technologies of consciousness, especially in seeking to understand psychosis in light of psychospiritual contingencies.

Suicide and Aging in Japan: An Examination of Treated Elderly Suicide Attempters

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshitomo Takahashi ◽  
Hideto Hirasawa ◽  
Keiko Koyama ◽  
Osamu Asakawa ◽  
Matazo Kido ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Public ◽  
Geriatric Hospital ◽  
Elderly Japanese ◽  
Elderly Suicide

Although individuals aged 65 and over accounted for 12% of the total population of Japan in 1990, suicides in this age group consisted of 29% of all suicides. The elderly population of Japan is expected to grow rapidly to 24% of the total population by the year 2020, and suicide prevention for the elderly is an urgent mental health problem. Among a total of 1,216 elderly patients who were admitted to the Department of Psychiatry at Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital between April 1980 and March 1990, 50 were hospitalized immediately after suicide attempts in order to study their psychosociomedical problems. Because early diagnosis of depression and initiation of proper treatment are indispensable—even if patients do not show obvious depressive symptoms—those who develop persistent somatization and/or delirium should be considered highly suicidal and given special attention. With the cooperation of mental health professionals, it is necessary to educate general practitioners, the public, and the elderly themselves about characteristics of psychiatric disorders and various problems associated with aging. Further research on other elderly Japanese populations, as well as research that examines suicide completion, is needed to confirm the findings of the present study.

scholarly journals Current issues in Scandinavian acute psychiatric wards

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torleif Ruud ◽  
Nils Lindefors ◽  
Anne Lindhardt
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Psychiatric Units ◽  
Acute Psychiatric Wards ◽  
Field Information ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to provide an overview of some of the most important issues faced by acute inpatient facilities in three Scandinavian countries, including reflections and critical remarks for discussion in this field. Information was drawn from scientific articles and official reports published in recent years, as well as the authors' own knowledge of acute facilities in their home countries. Acute inpatient facilities, including General Hospital Psychiatric Units (GHPUs), in all Scandinavian countries have several issues and problems in common, which include the organisation and capacity of acute services, the assessment of dangerousness and suicidality, the use of coercion and efforts to reduce coercion, the need to define and improve the quality of acute services, and the necessity to improve collaboration and continuity between acute services and other services. Although the emphasis some of these issues receive can vary across the three countries, Scandinavian mental health professionals (and policy makers) have begun to systematically share their experiences in developing a growing spirit of collaboration. Despite the role of welfare state and the deployment of substantial resources in Scandinavian countries, mental health practitioners are struggling to implement best practices in acute wards, to develop differentiated forms of acute services, and to reach the right balance and coordination between acute services and other services.

Legal Hazards and Protections for the Mentally Retarded: A Review

1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-375
Author(s):  
Richard R. Parlour ◽  
Virginia M. Goldsmith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Therapeutic Goals ◽  
Mental Health Service Delivery ◽  
The Public ◽  
Human Service Providers ◽  
Part Time

The last two decades have seen major changes in mental health service delivery and a staggering proliferation of law related to mental health issues. Mental health professionals are reminded that law is made to serve the public interest and may frequently hamper therapeutic goals. To be a most effective therapist, one must be well informed about relevant law and ways to implement treatment despite legal impediments. Being so socially handicapped, the retarded depend on all human service providers to be part-time advocates for them or the justice system will fail.

Mental Health Nurses' Beliefs About Interventions for Schizophrenia and Depression: A Comparison with Psychiatrists and the Public

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 602-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya M. Caldwell ◽  
Anthony F. Jorm
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Postal Survey ◽  
Mental Health Practitioners ◽  
Work Setting ◽  
Tertiary Sector ◽  
Mental Health Nurses ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Practitioners

Objective: The main objective of this paper was to investigate and compare mental health nurses' beliefs about interventions for schizophrenia and depression with those of psychiatrists and the public. Factors affecting nurses' beliefs were also investigated. Method: This research used methods employed in previous surveys of professional and public beliefs. A postal survey of 673 Australian mental health nurses was carried out. The survey was comprised of a vignette describing a person with either depression or schizophrenia. Participants rated whether particular medical, psychological and lifestyle interventions were helpful, harmful or neither. Factors examined included: nurses' age, sex, degree of contact with similar problems, work setting, level of highest qualification and whether their education was hospital-based or completed within the tertiary sector. Results: The nurses agreed with psychiatrists (but not the public) about the interventions most likely to be helpful, such as antidepressants for depression and antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia. However, there were many differences between nurses, psychiatrists and the public. Nurses were more likely than psychiatrists to believe that certain non-standard interventions such as vitamins, minerals and visiting a naturopath would be helpful. Nurses' beliefs tended to form a bridge between the attitudes of psychiatrists and the public for some of these non-standard interventions. Age, work setting and qualifications were related to nurses' intervention beliefs. Conclusions: Mental health practitioners need to be aware of a range of beliefs within mental health services. The acknowledgement of differing belief systems is important for high quality, integrated care.

scholarly journals It is ethical to diagnose a public figure one has not personally examined

2018 ◽  
Vol 213 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gartner ◽  
Alex Langford ◽  
Aileen O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
British Journal ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Public Figure ◽  
Duty To Warn ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
The Press

SummaryShould psychiatrists be able to speculate in the press or social media about their theories? John Gartner argues the risk to warn the public of concerns about public figures overrides the duty of confidentiality; whereas Alex Langford suggests this is beyond the ethical remit of psychiatric practice.Declaration of interestA.O'B is joint debates and analysis Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry. J.G. is the founder of Duty To Warn, an association of mental health professionals who advocate the president's removal under the 25th Amendment on the grounds that he is psychologically unfit and dangerous.

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