Understanding aggression.

Date:
1960
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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Credit

Understanding aggression. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Primarily for teaching psychiatric nursing, this film is also suitable for general trained nurses, students during psychiatric secondment, and other appropriate professional audiences. It is a study of aggression, a normal reaction which the well-balanced person learns to control as part of the process of growing-up, but one which presents a difficult problem to the medical and nursing staff in a psychiatric hospital. 4 segments.

Publication/Creation

UK : Ministry of Health, 1960.

Physical description

1 encoded moving image (22 min.) : sound, black and white

Duration

00:21:58

Copyright note

Crown copyright, managed by BFI.

Terms of use

Unrestricted
CC-BY-NC
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales

Language note

In English

Creator/production credits

Produced by Ronald H. Riley (RHR Productions), in association with the Film Producers Guild. Written and directed by Margaret Thomson, photographed by Fred Gamage and edited by Michael Barden. Produced by Central Office of Information for Ministry of Health.

Notes

This video was made from material preserved by the BFI National Archive.
Although the hospital is not identified specifically, in the sequence showing the cricket match between the patients and staff, the score board has the name 'Horton' which indicates the film was probably shot at Horton Psychiatric Hospital, Epsom, Surrey.

Contents

Segment 1 Opening credits. A nurse arrives late to a lecture about aggression at a psychiatric hospital. A doctor talks to a group of male and female nurses about the development of aggression and shows a film of young children playing and fighting. The children have not yet learned to curb their aggressive tendencies, though the doctor says that aggression can be useful in sports and games. The doctor addresses the nurses saying that their patients often cannot live peaceably with others, but that staff should pay heed to their reactions to patients. The nurse who was late asks her friend, Henry, for his notes on the lecture. Henry arranges to meet her later. Henry thinks in voiceover about the lecture in relation to a patient he finds difficult, Andrew. He calls him an 'aggressive psychopath' who tries to turn staff against one another. An example of this strife is seen. The nurse, Joan, also thinks about the lecture in regard to a patient that she finds difficult, Susan. An 'outburst' from Susan was the reason for Joan's late arrival to the lecture. The incident is seen - Susan attacks Joan as Joan is trying on another patient's new glasses. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:05:53:16 Length: 00:05:53:16
Segment 2 Joan wonders why Susan often tries to attack her and feels shaken. In the afternoon, the patients and staff go outside to watch a patients vs. staff cricket match. Joan talks to the patient Andrew, finding him interesting. Henry does not like this and attempts to interrupt them. The doctor says that the staff wondered whether Andrew should take part in the cricket match, but that sometimes patients can only learn to live normally through trial and error. During the cricket match, Andrew is batting but Henry catches him out. Andrew becomes angry and grabs a stump and moves to attack Henry with it, but he is restrained. They take him back to the ward. The other patients feel jumpy, and Susan begins behaving oddly. Joan tries to distract her with her favourite chocolate biscuits. Time start: 00:05:53:16 Time end: 00:11:04:17 Length: 00:05:11:01
Segment 3 The doctor visits Andrew, who is calmer and chatting to the charge nurse. The staff arrange a special meeting to discuss the incidents from Susan and Andrew. Joan tries to see things from Susan's point of view, imagining her world view. Susan is seen walking along a river, trying to hide in the leaves of a willow tree. She also hears voices, and the staff describe her as schizophrenic. The staff discuss her, and the Sister asks Joan to be more patient with Susan and to try to be friendlier. Time start: 00:11:04:17 Time end: 00:16:08:08 Length: 00:05:03:16
Segment 4 The staff discuss Andrew, and the charge nurse gives them Andrew's history. Andrew is seen as a baby, being neglected by his mother and shouted at by his violent father. His mother continues to ignore him and the father leaves them. He becomes violent at school, the nurse saying that the ability to love has been stifled in him. He is sent to live with foster parents, but he has outbursts of bad behaviour. They agree he needs more sympathy from the staff, including Henry, who may have felt some rivalry with Andrew over Joan. The staff are seen helping patients with chores and team activities, saying they are helping the patients to return to a 'full and normal life'. The end credits play over shots of Susan leaving the hospital. Time start: 00:16:08:08 Time end: 00:21:57:24 Length: 00:05:49:16

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