Forensic Preventive Community Treatment

Background: Four five ago, the project Preventive Community Treatment started at the Forensic Clinic of Ansbach District Hospital. The aim of the project is to provide professional forensic psychiatric treatment to those patients who have not yet committed a crime linked to a mental illness but show a high-risk profile to commit a severe crime in future (i.e. violence, sexual offences). In this connection, the project focuses on patients suffering from schizophrenia and/or severe personality disorder and has been, for the start, designed for four years. The team is multi-professional and consists of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and nurses who are all trained forensically. This team provides risk assessments to patients who are referred by general practitioners, psychiatrists, or their families. Patients who are regarded being at high risk are treated and monitored voluntarily by offering continuous appointments and doing home visits. The aim of the project is to reduce possible future crime committed by high-risk psychiatric patients. The project was evaluated by a long-term examination of a control group from Erlangen District hospital regarding aggression, severity of illness, outcome etc. The results will show the effectiveness of preventive treatment for psychiatric ill patients with a high risk for violence. Possibilities of a nationwide implementation of the project will be suggested.