Women admitted to secure forensic psychiatry services: II. Identification of categories using cluster analysis

It has been recommended that there should be new therapeutic regimes for women who need secure inpatient services. Cluster analysis was applied to the diagnoses of 471 women admitted to Special Hospitals and medium secure units over a 7-year period from a geographically representative area of seven health regions in the UK. The aim was to identify categories that may facilitate the development of new specialist services. A seven-cluster solution revealed three subgroups of women with personality disorder as their primary psychopathology, three with major mental illness, and one with organic brain syndrome. Each may require different therapeutic regimes and levels of inpatient security. Further research is necessary to determine whether any single category could be managed in specialist facilities without recourse to high perimeter security. High security will continue to be needed for women with anti-social personality disorder.