OBJECTIVES: Agitation is a frequent behaviour of psychiatric inpatients with severe consequences to patients and staff. The objective was to calculate economic consequences of agitation events in an inpatient psychiatric facility. METHODS: An integrative cross-design synthesis approach combining a secondary analysis of databases, surveys and expert knowledge was used to model the annual direct costs of agitation and containment for adult inpatients with mental disorders in 2013 in a local urban area located at the south of Barcelona (Spain). Data was collected from inpatients at the Acute Inpatient Unit, a 69 bed’s facility at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (PSSJD) providing care to a local catchment area of 650.000 inhabitants. Database of seclusion and restraint events and data of aggressive incidents against patients or staff were used to estimate its prevalence and direct costs. A multiprobability sensibility analysis was conducted. RESULTS: During 2013, 918 patients were admitted at the Acute Inpatient unit of PSSJD. From those, 485 were men (52.8%), with a mean age of 44.6 yo (SD=15.5), being 683 admitted by compulsory admission (74.4%), 368 (40.1%) being diagnosed of schizophrenia or non-affective psychosis, with a mean length of stay of 24.6 days (SD=16.9). The estimated total agitation events in hospital were 508 (104 were anxiety and irritability events; 52 events of mild-agitation and agitation without aggression, 289 were aggressions against objects and 63 aggressions against other patients or staff). The annual total cost of agitation was 278,867€ for the inpatient care in the local area (35,088€ for anxiety and irritability events; 20,088€ for mild-agitation and agitation without aggression; 181,096€ for aggressions against objects; and 42,595€ for aggressions against people). CONCLUSIONS: Agitation events are frequent and costly. Strategies to reduce its number and degree of severity should be implemented to reduce costs for health system and suffering for patients.