This multi-author text is edited by a British nurse/psychologist and a German nurse/sociologist who are both acknowledged experts in the area. They have drawn together contributions from a range of European experts in the field, representing all of the main relevant disciplines. As Chair of the Guidelines Development Group which produced the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on the management of violence in mental health and emergency settings in 2005, I was pleased to receive this book as I believe that there is a real need to distil the important issues from the enormous amount of research on this topic and to have a textbook to which all mental health professionals could refer. Unfortunately, much of this book turned out to be disappointing. The text is divided into seven sections covering measurement and epidemiology, the psychology and sociology of the violent incident, prediction and management, staff skills, the organisational context, dealing with the consequences of violence and a concluding chapter. Each section contains sound, scholarly reviews of the literature; however, as with many such textbooks, I found that they did not join up. There were also some startling omissions in the book. For example, there was only passing reference made to the contribution of drugs and alcohol to violence in mental health settings, and scant attention paid to personality disorders.

Although a glance at the contributor list shows that the chapter authors come from a number of European countries, the book has considerable international limitations. Having had experience of policy initiatives on violence in both the USA and Australia, I am of the opinion that clinicians in these countries would find little of relevance to their services. For example, the chapter on pharmacological management of aggression did not reflect practice in the UK and the USA. Indeed, I thought that one of the drawbacks of the approach of using authors from various European countries was that while this highlighted the heterogeneity of approaches to violence management across the world, the reader was not provided with a comprehensive account of this issue. A particular failing of the book was the absence of the most important matter of human rights legislation and its particular relevance in mental health areas.

On a more positive note, some of the chapters will be of interest to researchers across the world; for example, the chapters on coercive measures and aggression management training were, in my opinion, very well written and provide excellent, up-to-date reviews of the area.

In summary, while this is clearly a text supported by considerable scholarship, its relevance to clinical settings is lacking and, other than researchers with a specific interest in this area, I cannot recommend this as essential reading for any clinician working in mental health services.