Violence and self-injury

Abstract

This is an empirical study of the relationship between self-injury and violence in female Special Hospital patients. The relationship between self-injury and violence over the course of admission was assessed for 80 patients. The temporal relationship between weekly rates of violence and self-injury for 5 psychopathic disorder patients was assessed. There is an association between the level of self-injury and violent behaviour in Special Hospital patients with a legal category of psychopathic disorder but not for those with a category of mental illness. However, variations in self-injury explain only a small part of the variation in violence. There is a temporal association between the two behaviours, with violent behavier more likely to occur in the same week as self-injury in certain psychopathic disorder patients, but the association is not strong.

Key Words:

• self-injurious behaviour
• aggression
• personality disorders