Socially Disruptive Behavior of Ex-Mental Patients

WHILE it has been noted that most psychiatrists do not consider the average mental patient to be dangerous,^1,2 it has been demonstrated that laymen^3,4 and even patients themselves⁵ fear the "mental patient" as a dangerous person. Although the extent to which persons previously identified as mentally ill engage in socially hazardous behavior is a question of continuing importance to both mental health professionals and to society in general, it is a question which has been the object of only sporadic and limited systematic investigation. Contemporary stress on brief hospitalization and community-centered treatment serves to further emphasize the need for clarifying the association between socially disruptive behavior and the status of ex-mental patients.

The present study reports the incidence of socially disruptive acts committed by patients in the Veterans Administration (VA) Psychiatric Evaluation Project (PEP) studies relating selected