Crime victimization in psychiatric outpatients. A one-week survey in a Mental Health Centre

A one-week victimization survey was carried out to explore whether being a psychiatric outpatient is a condition of higher vulnerability for crime victimization or not, and to identify some other conditions that may affect the probability that episodes of victimization will occur. One hundred patients gave their informed consent and filled in a self-report questionnaire. The occurrence of seventeen types of crimes was investigated over the last twelve months and detailed information about the context of victimization was gathered. About one in four participants claimed to have experienced victimization in the last twelve months. In the majority of crimes considered the victims knew the offenders. The majority of the victimization experiences took place in the street and without the victims reporting the offensive event to the Police. These findings suggest that prevention should always be one the first priorities in any health policy interested in fostering mental health, along with the interest to promote safety through extra-hospital interventions.