Archive 1992–2014

Objectives. The authors intended to present selected theories dealing with the phenomenon of aggression, discuss aggressive behaviours in people with mental disorders, and outline basic instruments for the assessment of aggression risk and evaluation of aggression level.

Views. Theories of aggression are based on both psychological and biochemical mechanisms of the individual's functioning. Attempts are made also to establish a relationship between aggression and heredity processes. Among concepts originating from psychological sciences, the following seem to be most important: the theory of instincts, drive theory, and the theory of social learning. Biochemical concepts assume that aggression may result from endocrinopathy, lipometabolism disorders, and abnormalities in neurotransmitter metabolism. Research findings suggest that as regards aggressive behaviours incidence in mental disorders, aggression occurs most frequently in schizophrenic patients and in individuals with symptoms of brain damage.

Conclusions. Many years of research into the phenomenon of aggression and its underlying mechanisms show the problem complexity. Novel theories of aggression that appear with the development of science and diagnostic techniques are based on psychological knowledge as well as on analysis of biochemical phenomena. Some theories demonstrate a relationship between aggression and organic lesions within the CNS.