Contributing factors in the aggressive crisis

Uncontrollable acts of violence, or "aggressive crises," result from one's reduced ability to regulate the expression of aggressive behavior in interpersonal situations. Identification of factors that predict the risk for violence is extremely important to emergency mental health providers in the field. This article discusses psychiatric, constitutional, and situational factors associated with potentiating the aggressive crisis. Based on the literature reviewed it can be argued that it is important to understand constitutional factors that contribute to the propensity of a given client to behave aggressively and that these factors interact with a wide range of situational determinants. While the aggressive crisis should be anticipated when certain conditions are met, its occurrence remains difficult to predict.