A buddy of mine & I work on what are perhaps the 2 most violent forensic units in the state.
Despite that I go to work each day, not worried I'll get attacked. Of course it can happen, you have to be aware of the danger, but its not something I actively worry about.
Violence can happen in the job. It can happen in any job. The thing you need to remember to assauge your fears are that you will be trained to deal with such things, and if the place you work at is of at least 1/2 decent quality, they'll have measures in place to prevent violence.
I wear what's called a spider on my ID necklace. Its a button that if pressed will automatically alert the campus police (no we do not have orderlies or security guards, we have real police) show up in seconds--and all cameras in the immediate area will flood the TV screens in the police office. Within 30 seconds, the place will also be teaming with staff--on the order of perhaps 20 or more people in addition to the police who will surround the violent patient. Violence prevention training is mandatory where I work. If need be, the police will show up in riot gear, all patients are rated on 2 levels of risk--special precautions risk, and general privelidges. Based on both, each patient is tiered as to their risk, and the corresponding level of freedom they are allowed to have in the hospital.
There's several other added security features. We can put bells on the doors so if patients leave their rooms-an bell sounds off. Its useful for patients who've been known to leave their rooms in the middle of the night & attack others. There's wrist to waist restraints which I've never seen until I've worked at my current place
http://www.pxdirect.com/images/Grip-Fixed-Rear.jpg
Which are for people who are chronically violent at all times, even when medicated.
I could go on & on.
Bottom line is violence can happen, but in any field something bad can happen--a random HIV infected needle prick, malpractice suits, etc. The violence factor is not something you should expect to happen to you so long as you practice the safety guidelines--and by then only expect something like that to happen once every several years.
If the place you work at does not have enough safety measures in place, make demands to have them implemented or get out of that place.
I've noticed is that most psychiatrists I've met have really relaxed personalities
Agree. This is perhaps biased, and not based on hard data but anectdotal experiences, but from my own experiences Ob-Gyn & surgeons tend to be the least tolerant & patient with others. Certain personality types seem driven to certain fields (this is a generalization).
However and self mockingly against fellow certain forensic psychiatrists, I've noticed plenty of narcissistic forensic psychaitrists--walk into court with the Armani suit, gelled up hair, and seem to have forgotten that its not their job to zealously defend anyone. They're just supposed to provide an honest evaluation, but at a few hundred to thousand dollars an hour, I think they've lost that perspective.
I worked as a student/researcher on the ward -- that was creepy although he wasn't set on killing me, he thought we had a "relationship". Sure I notified police and neighbors, but they weren't exactly helpful. The police said something like "uh, it's your job to deal with the crazy folks out there, ain't it?" I ended up paying for valet parking at the hospital during the day and getting security to fetch my car at night.
