The Role of Mental Disorder

Most people with a mental disorder will not exhibit threatening behaviour; however, when they do, it is essential that we understand how to respond appropriately and adopt supportive intervention practices. This section therefore comprises information about the role of mental illness, ill-health and personality disorder in targeted violence and good practice guidance.

The violent acts of interest to threat assessment and management professionals represent a choice made by a perpetrator to act against the interests of one or more other people. That choice is influenced by many factors – what they have come to believe about their intended victim(s), their expectations about the use of violence or the threat of violence as a form of communication either to their victim(s) or a third party, their understanding of the impact of their actions both for themselves and others. The perpetrator’s state of mind and their personality characteristics have a bearing on the choices they make. But how? How do mental health difficulties impact on decision-making towards violence? Why does personality – and, more specifically, personality problems – matter? AETAP is invested in collecting together resources for the use of threat assessment and management professionals to advance their understanding of this complex area of our shared practice.

We will showcase that work at the forthcoming AETAP conference in Lugano including in a pre-conference workshop on Monday 7th April 2025, on The Role of Mental Health in Threat Assessment (–> Next conference).

Come, find out more.  And watch this space for resources and further educational opportunities.

Due to limitations of the translation tool, the links may not be functional. Therefore, the literature list is additionally provided as a PDF for download.

Literature list