La violence en cours d’hospitalisation : études de cas de patients présentant une symptomatologie de type menace et atteintes aux mécanismes de contrôle
Studies suggest that people with severe mental illnesses represent a higher risk of acting out violently than the general population. However, evidences as to why these individuals would be more prone to violence remain contradictory. In 1994, Link and Stueve suggested that a person with Threat/Control-Override (TCO) symptoms is at a significantly higher risk to act violently. Those results were subsequently reproduced. The objective of this report is to get a better understanding of the relation between TCO symptoms and violent acting out during hospitalization. Therefore, data concerning symptomatology and violent acting outs by two Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal (IPPM) inpatients are presented in two case studies. The analysis of the clinical content in these case studies suggests that a nomothetic approach would only allow us to understand part of the correlation between aggressive behaviors and TCO symptoms. More over, this approach does not integrate other clinical factors such as hallucinations to the comprehension of aggressive acting outs. A phenomenological approach where the person’s understanding of his environment and what he considers as options in responding are investigated, provides additional clues that could lead to the understanding of why someone with a severe mental illness may be at risk of acting out violently.
Violence Maladie mental grave Threat/Control-Override symptoms Violence Severe mental illness