Hostility And Aggression in Schizophrenia : Research Since 1960

The inappropriate handling of feelings of hostility, and the accompanying inappropriate expression of aggression, have long been recognized as integral parts of the symptomatology of schizophrenia. Detailed study of the relationship between hostility and Psychopathology awaited sophistication in statistical and methodological procedures, however, and not until the 1950s was much empirical attention given to this area. The present review is concerned primarily with the second decade of this research, a decade that has brought many advancements in knowledge about the relationship between hostility and aggression in schizophrenia. The relationship between feelings of hostility, acts of aggression, and schizophrenia has been explored from two points of view: (1) the nature of the aggressiveness shown by schizophrenics, and (2) the responses of schizophrenics to stimuli which are, or are perceived by schizophrenics to be, aggressive in nature.