Characteristics of assaultive patients who do and do not provide visible cues of potential violence

Twelve assaultive psychiatric patients who had provided visible cues (i.e., verbal threats) of potential violence were compared on Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale factor scores with 13 patients who had not provided such cues. These groups differed from one another and from a group of 253 nonassaultive patients on one or more of the following dimensions: thinking disorder, withdrawal-retardation, anxious depression, hostile-suspiciousness, and activation. In addition, the factor scores significantly predicted the occurrence of violence among patients who did not exhibit visible cues.