Hallucinations and Violence (From Violence and Mental Disorder: Developments in Risk Assessment, P 183-202, 1994, John Monahan and Henry J Steadman, eds. -- See NCJ-165556)

• NCJ Number: 165564
• Author(s): D E McNiel
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter explores the literature that relates hallucinations to violence.

Abstract

It first reviews the prevalence of hallucinatory experiences, along with the types of mental states and disorders in which they occur. After the presentation of pertinent background theory, quantitative studies concerning the association of hallucinations and violent behavior among different subgroups of the mentally disordered are reviewed. Implications for assessment of the risk of violence of current research and theory about hallucinations are also discussed, along with promising directions for further research. The author concludes that there is evidence for a positive relationship between hallucinations and violence, but it is a link affected by many other factors, such as the course of the disorder of which hallucinations are symptomatic. Given that hallucinations tend to respond to treatment with anti-psychotic medication, predictors of noncompliance with medication among hallucinating patients may be predictors of violence among people experiencing hallucinations. 81 references