Management of a Person Displaying Acute Behavioural Disturbance

What is this article about?

Acute behavioural disturbance (ABD) is behaviour that has the potential to cause serious harm, major injury or death to the affected person, yourself or others. It includes behaviours such as making threats, aggression, extreme distress and self-harm. When encountering ABD, ensuring the safety of all people present is your immediate priority. In some cases, the person displaying abnormal behaviour may not be a client but instead, other people present such as family members or friends. There may even be situations where several people are displaying behavioural disturbance at once.