Patients detained in Broadmoor hospital : their childhood experiences with particular reference to separation and loss

Schooling, Jean (1998) Patients detained in Broadmoor hospital : their childhood experiences with particular reference to separation and loss. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

There has been no previous systematic exploration of the childhood experiences of Special Hospital patients. This study examined the family background, separations and disruptive incidents, which constituted a loss, of 208 patients who had been admitted to Broadmoor Hospital in the late 1980s.

The research methodology involved the collection of data from a documentary source, the social history compiled on admission, and from interviews with patients. Instruments were designed in order to create a data base, which enabled quantitative analysis, through the production of tables and statistical analysis, to be presented alongside qualitative data, in the form of textural quotations and vignettes. Both facilitated a complex analysis and presentation of qualitative material.

Findings were extrapolated for the sample as a whole, but differences were identified between patients with different legal classifications under the Mental Health Act 1983; the experiences of women, and of patients from ethnic minorities. Comparisons were also made between patients at either end of the continuum, those who had experienced the most, and the least, traumatic events.

There is no comparable data about separation and loss experienced during childhood. Nearly three-quarters of the patients had experienced separation, and all but a tenth had a disruptive incident. These were higher for patients classified as psychopathically disordered, and for black patients. Analysis which correlated the losses, within different age-bands, the legal classification of the patients, and the index offences, showed a significant association between the classification of mental illness and offences in which the victim died or was seriously injured. It could be that these offences were as much a response to a violence delusional system than as a result of earlier trauma.

The predominant finding was that of violence; within families, inflicted on children, and in the children's behaviour. There was also evidence of alcohol abuse, and a high level of disruption within the families. In addition to violence, patients were involved in arson, burglary, and absconding; many had difficulties at school. These findings were confirmatory of other studies about criminality or mental disorder.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics