Co-occurring mental disorders and behavioural disturbance among male prisoners

The study investigated the inter-relationships between co-occurring psychiatric illness, substance misuse, personality disorder and cognitive impairments with the aim to reveal the extent to which these conditions affect an individual's offending and institutional behaviour. The information is considered of critical importance to clinicians who work with offenders with mental illness in prison and also to those who work with psychiatric patients in the community who are at risk for offending. The work aimed to form part of a framework for better understanding and intervening with people with mental illness who offend and become incarcerated.