[Liberal or controlled approach--the management of violent patients in psychiatric clinics]

The traditional mental hospitals are said to hamper recovery and obstruct rehabilitation by an authoritarian therapeutic regimen. Nevertheless, the claim of community-oriented hospitals that a liberal therapeutic style improves prognosis and makes treatment more human requires scrutiny. The management of violent patients who call for controlling and disciplinary measures seems to be crucial. In the light of a case-history the article describes, how a misinterpretation of liberal principles complicates the treatment of dangerous patients and supports an attitude which does not admit the double character of psychiatric therapy in regard of the inevitable conflict between safety precautions and therapeutic engagement.