The Importance of Risk Assessment in Psychological Health

Risk assessment concerns the probability of a violent behavior occurring. This assessment is important in mental health patients to reduce the number of suicides, homicides and other violent events. Pscyhological health risk assessment also improves the mental health care level of patients. Many professionals argue that efforts would be better directed at improving mental health care for all patients than targeting those assessed as high risk for violent behaviors.       

Suicides

Approximately 34,000 people die every year by suicide in the United States. Mental health professionals have developed a risk assessment tool that includes risk factors for suicide such as depression, substance abuse, prior suicide attempt and family history. A large percentage of the people that commit suicide each year manifest these risk factors. Suicide victims and people at risk for suicide have been found to exhibit lower levels of serotonin. Treatment with antidepressants can increase serotonin levels reducing depression in most patients.   

Homicides

People suffering from mental illness often exhibit a diminished capacity for handling life’s demands. The disorders often influence the person’s ability to relate to others. When a mentally ill person kills someone, the victim will most likely be a family member. Proper treatment through risk assessment may alleviate the symptoms of the illness. Many of the mentally ill refuse treatment because they suffer from a brain impairment that prohibits them from realizing that they are ill. It is believed that a significant number of deaths could be prevented each year if mentally ill patients had continued their medication.

Other Violent Events

The scientific community debates whether a mentally ill person is more likely to commit an act of violence. It is believed that substance abuse, gender, age and poverty are more common risk factors for violent events than mental illness. It is predicted that if people with mental illnesses were assessed for risk and properly treated along with people with substance abuse disorders, violent crime rate would drop by about 10 percent.