Violent victimisation of psychiatric patients: a Swedish case–control study

OBJECTIVES: To report the rate of violent victimisation of psychiatric patients 1 year before interview and to examine the relative rate in comparison to the general population. METHOD: Cases were recruited from two public psychiatric hospitals in Stockholm County (n = 390). The controls comprised gender- and age-matched people interviewed in an annual national survey of living conditions (n = 1,170). RESULTS: Twenty percent of the patients had been victimised during the preceding year. The relative rate was six times higher than that of the controls. Women appeared to be most vulnerable with a tenfold risk increase. CONCLUSIONS: The findings stress that psychiatric patients are vulnerable to other people’s violent behaviour.