Disturbed sleep as a risk factor for aggression in prisoners with a psychotic illness: a brief report

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to examine whether a relationship exists between disturbed sleep and aggression in 19 male prisoners with a psychotic illness, incarcerated in the Penitentiary Psychiatric Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The sleep–wake rhythm was indirectly assessed by means of actigraphy. The results show that nocturnal restlessness was a significant predictor of aggression/agitation with a large effect size (R²= .639, adjusted R² = .536). It was concluded that future research should focus on nocturnal restlessness as a possible cause of aggression in this population.

Keywords:

• prison
• psychotic illness
• aggression
• actigraphy
• sleep
• nocturnal restlessness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Jesse Meijers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7607-2321