The potential relationship between psychosis and violence

Source Citation

Purpose/Problem

Design/sample

Instruments/Measures

Results

Strengths/Weakness

Douglas, K. S., Guy, L. S., & Hart, S. D. (2009). Psychosis as a risk factor for violence to others: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 135(5), 679.

Following the extensive debate of the potential relationship between psychosis and violence, the articles reports on a research to establish the association between psychosis due to certain conditions such as schizophrenia and violence.

The authors adopted a qualitative design of a meta-analysis where they collected 885 effect sizes and calculated them from 204 courses on the basis of 166 independent sets of data.

Used descriptive analysis to divide the many groups of data while comparing them to others.
Used study groups to examine dispersion between effect sizes through moderation analyses.

The median of the calculation showed that psychosis and other mental disorders were responsible for a 46% to 68% increase in violence.

Strengths.
Offered a broad and clear explanation and discussion of the findings.
Gave correct account of past research findings.
Weakness.
No discussion of the assumptions made during the survey and the possibility that the study design may have altered the results.

Fazel, S., Gulati, G., Linsell, L., Geddes, J., & Grann, M. (2018). Schizophrenia and
Violence: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Plus Medicine, 6(8), e1000120. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000120

The article examines the relationship between violence and schizophrenia and other psychoses and the possibility that there may be other causes of the heterogeneity that may not have been captured by the books and articles on the topic.

It is a systematic review of analyses and investigations that were performed on the association between violence and schizophrenia and other psychoses.
Random-effects models were used in the meta-analysis to pool the odds ratios of the findings.

Used bibliographic databases and reference lists as well as secondary research of written journals from 1970 to 2009. The studied texts are reports on the issue of violence caused by patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses on the community and the general public.

In men, comparing the odds ratios violence from those suffering from schizophrenia and other psychoses ranged from 1 to 7.
In women, the odds ratios ranged from 4 to 29.
The impact of comorbid drug and alcohol abuse yielded a positive 95% possibility of violence.

Strengths.
Use of many figures and tables to present the data in the methodology and the assessment section.
There is an extended section of additional supporting information.

Junginger, J. (2016). Psychosis and Violence: The Case for a Content Analysis of Psychotic
Experience. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22(1), 91-103. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/22.1.91

To explore the association between mental illness and violence and the threat that patients suffering from psychotic episodes pose to the general population.

A structured case study that reviews 56 articles published between 1967 and 1994 on the state of prevalence of forms of violence caused or committed by individuals suffering from psychosis and schizophrenia

Qualitative and quantitative study of past findings of researches and articles from 1967 to 1994.

Findings from the study suggest that there is a medium but strong association between psychosis and schizophrenia and violence.
Most of the acts of violence are not accidental but intentionally caused by the symptoms of mental illness.

Strengths
Highly informative.
Accurate account of the knowledge and results of past articles.
Gives numerous examples of mental illness for better understanding.
Weakness.
Not enough numerical and statistical findings from the small methodology section.

Rueve, M. E., & Welton, R. S. (2008). Violence and mental illness. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 5(5), 34.

To review the literature provided on the relationship between violence and mental illness. To further explore important related topics such as etiology, comorbidity and the management of forms of violence caused by mental illness.

It is a descriptive literature review that is divided in to several sections with specific subtitles and extensive research.

Quantitative description of research findings and their pictorial representation using tables.

There are several risk factors with different implications on violence.
Psychiatrists can apply the common pharmacological methods of treatment and that will be successful.
However, to completely eradicate the problem, it would be pertinent if patients of mental illness were treated well.

Strengths.
Clear, concise and informative.
Uses tables to present the findings of the study of the literature.
Offers a brief and significant concluding summary of the discourse.
Weaknesses.
No methodology on how the tabulated data was collected.

Swanson, J., Swartz, M., Van Dorn, R., Elbogen, E., Wagner, H., & Rosenheck, R. et al. (2017). A National Study of Violent Behavior in Persons With Schizophrenia. Archives Of General Psychiatry, 63(5), 490. DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.5.490

To evaluate the prevalence and the correlation of violence among patients suffering from schizophrenia in the general population.
The author develops multivariable statistical models to examine the impacts of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

A large number of 1410 patients of schizophrenia were clinically examined and asked to reflect on their violent behavior in the past six months.

Use of data baseline comprises evaluation, interviews and a visit to the National Institute of Mental Health Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness.

The prevalence of violent behavior in six months was 19% and 3.6% of the people stated that they had been involved in serious criminal activities.

Strengths.
Clear organization of facts.
Use of tables and graphs to present data.
Personal reviews and comments of each author included in the text.

Volavka, J. (2019). Aggression in Psychoses. Advances In Psychiatry, 2014, 1-20. DOI:
10.1155/2014/196281

To explore and discuss the epidemiology, underlying mechanisms and pathways to aggressive behavior and violence and their management in patients suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Qualitative and experimental studies are performed on the topic of violence and aggression in a period of 30 years.
The author searched the PubMed database for articles published between 1980 and November 2012 using relevant keywords.

The use of published and unpublished materials in the analysis.

Most patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are not violent. Nevertheless, their level of violence is higher compared to the members of the general public. This marks them as a major problem to the general population and the numerous cases of stigma and isolation.

Strengths.
Covers all the topics of schizophrenia and other mental disorders from their definition to the treatment.
Uses graphs to present and compare data retrieved from journals published from 1980 to 2012.
Weakness.