Patients who have mental illnesses face a risk of physical violence from relatives, nurses, strangers, and government agents. Violence is defined as any physical force intent of an individual against another that is either a threat or real force and may result in psychological harm, injury, or death of that person or group (Oliveira et al., 2013). Studies show that patients with mental disorders encounter more violence than the general population. It is also estimated that victimization of people with mental illnesses is between 2 to 100 times higher than the percentages in the normal population. Additionally, an assessment on police data in the Danish population suggested that mental illness is associated with a 1.7 ratio increase of victimization in men and a corresponding increase ratio of 2.7 in women. Such findings fuel an alert for further studies on physical violence against mentally ill patients. Understanding the specifics and magnitudes of violence against mentally ill patients is essential for planning care and intervention of primary and public mental health services. This intervention is crucial due to the stigma mental health patients face from day-to-day interactions with a different population.
The screening of historical factors to determine new forms of difficulties and symptoms is one way of a patient’s health assessment. I observed nurses ask screening questions to patients to identify violent symptoms and difficulties such as emotional numbing, distress, and vigilant behavior that may require attention and treatment. The screening programs are plausible but need to be evaluated systematically. For example, physical and psychological health consequences should be addressed as part of the mental treatment. Additionally, a person with mental health after facing acute violence should be comforted with supportive, open, non-directive, and open psychological help for better recovery ( Oliveira et al., 2013) . Assessing and treating any physical violence symptoms in mentally ill patients is essential for reducing the risk associated with this type of violence.
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References
Oliveira, H. N. D., Machado, C. J., & Guimarães, M. D. C. (2013). Physical violence against patients with mental disorders in Brazil: sex differences in a cross-sectional study. Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo) , 40 (5), 172-176.
