Living with aggressiveness in people with psychiatric disorders: challenges for the therapeutic relationship

Aggressive behaviours are particularly difficult and restrictive on relationships and, regardless of how aggressiveness is expressed, it can cause great damage to everyone involved.

National and international documents indicate how frequent this problem is, as well as the effects it produces: these are usually chronic and recurring disorders that generate great incapacity in the adulticidal phase. Clinical best practises emphasise the importance of early intervention and the use of less restrictive strategies, and the management of these behaviours should focus on interventions that support self-control, self-determination and respect for the client’s autonomy.

Casa de Saúde de Carnaxide has a Nursing team specialised in Mental Health and Psychiatry, where the nurses themselves are therapeutic instruments, which enables adjustment during periods of crisis, while opening windows of possibility to change the physical and psychologic well-being.