Violence and Mental Disorder

Stephen Blumenthal is a clinical psychologist in forensic services at the Bracton Centre, Bexley Hospital, a medium secure unit in Kent. Tony Lavender is a clinical psychologist. He is Director of the Centre for Applied Social and Psychological Development at Salomons, a faculty of Canterbury Christ Church University College, Kent.The Zito Trust is an independent registered charity which has been campaigning for reform to mental health policy and law since the death of Jonathan Zito in December 1992.

• Foreword. 1. Definitions and Context of the Review. 2. Evidence for a Relationship: Prevalence. 3. Factors Predictive of Violence. 4. Clinical Psychological and Developmental Aspects of Risk. 5. Prediction Instruments. 6. Evaluation. 7. Conclusions: Implications for Policy, Practice and Future Research. Glossary. References. Index.

Blumenthal and Lavender have brought together a mass of hitherto disparate evidence, which provides a useful starting point for mental health professionals, and students of psychology and psychiatry, trying to understand the links between violence and mental disorder.