BJP CPD Online e-learning site
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

The British Journal of Psychiatry (1969) 115: 1249-1253. doi: 10.1192/bjp.115.528.1249
© 1969 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by GITTLESON, N. L.
Right arrow Articles by DAWSON-BUTTERWORTH, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by GITTLESON, N. L.
Right arrow Articles by DAWSON-BUTTERWORTH, K.

The Tattooed Psychiatric Patient

N. L. GITTLESON M.A., D.M., D.P.M.1, G. D. P. WALLEN M.B., Ch.B., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.R.C.O.G., D.P.M.2, and K. DAWSON-BUTTERWORTH M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.M.3

1 Consultant Psychiatrist, Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield, 6
2 Senior Registrar, Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield, 6
3 Registrar, Middlewood Hospital, Sheffield, 6

Sixty-seven tattooed male patients from a psychiatric hospital were studied.

Fifteen per cent of the acute admissions over a 12-month period were found to be tattooed.

Compared with controls the tattooed group contained a significantly higher proportion of personality disorders.

The instigation and execution of tattooing is a group activity first carried out at the mean age of 19 years, the forearm being the commonest site. The pattern and content of the tattoos is not diagnostically specific.

Within the tattooed group, the 49 per cent who had been tattooed on more than one occasion were significantly more likely to be diagnosed as personality disorder, to have been convicted of lawbreaking, to have been first tattooed at an earlier age and to have their tattoos visible in normal clothing, than the 51 per cent who had been tattooed on one occasion only.

It was concluded that being tattooed was associated with personality disorder.

Submitted on October 24, 1968






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals
Copyright © 1969 The Royal College of Psychiatrists.