Criminally violent victimisation in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: the relationship to symptoms and substance abuse

Background: Violent victimisation among people with major mental illness is well-documented but the risk factors for criminal violent victimisation are not well understood. Methods: We examined the relationship between illness-related variables, indices of substance abuse and previous history of violence in a sample of 23 male criminally violently victimized and 69 non-criminally violently victimized male patients with DSM-IV-TR diagnoses of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder that were resident in the community and in contact with public mental health services in Victoria Australia. Data on criminal victimisation was acquired from the police database