Crowding and aggression on inpatient psychiatric wards

The association between crowding and aggressive behavior among psychiatric inpatients was investigated. Aggressive incidents were documented on two cl osed psychiatric wards between February 1 and December 15, 1996. A modest c orrelation between number of patients on the ward and number of aggressive incidents per patient was found. Enlargement of the physical space by the a ddition of a courtyard to one of the wards midway through the study did not lead to a significant decline in incidents. Possibly, a lack of psychologi cal space-having no privacy or not being able to get sufficient rest-may be more important in triggering aggression than a lack of physical space.