A book about serial killers written by the Moors murderer Ian Brady has been banned in Britain after the high security hospital where he is detained took out an injunction to halt publication.

Ashworth hospital authority in Merseyside has succeeded in temporarily preventing release of the book, which attempts to explain the psychology of notorious serial killers. Published in California, it was due on sale in Britain and the US in November.

The book, The Gates of Janus: serial killing and its analysis, makes no mention of the Moors murders. It analyses the psychology of 11 serial killers, including the Hertfordshire poisoner Graham Young, and Ted Bundy, the American who raped and killed 30 women in the 1970s.

A hospital spokeswoman said the action had been taken so the book could be read and checked as to whether it had breached patients' confidentiality and could lead to disruption. "The action is to enable the hospital to have sight of the book so that a considered decision can be made regarding whether it could affect the hospital's ability to carry out its statutory duties to maintain security, order, and a therapeutic environment," she said.

Colin Wilson, a criminologist who befriended Brady, said that he was willing to hand over a typescript to the hospital. "Ashworth is mainly bothered about whether there is something in the book about themselves, because Ian Brady fulminates about the hospital. But there is nothing whatsoever in the book about Ashworth."

Mr Wilson, who wrote a foreword, said the book had lifted Brady's spirits. He has been on hunger strike for almost two years, kept alive by being force-fed.

The book was written under a pseudonym, but Brady later agreed to have his name on it. The 300-page work takes its name from the Roman god of doorways.

Benedict Birnberg, Brady's former solicitor and executor of his estate, said that an advance of £3,420, plus the royalties, would be used to support Brady's elderly mother: "Ian Brady will receive no money himself."

If the injunction were not lifted, said Mr Birnberg, Brady could bring a complaint under the Human Rights Act for denial of free expression. Mr Birnberg said he interpreted the book as Brady trying to recompense for his crimes.

The publication had upset families of Brady's victims. The Victims of Crime Trust was "disgusted" he had been allowed to publish, and its director, Norman Brennan, said that the families were "absolutely distraught".

Winnie Johnson, whose son, Keith Bennett, who was murdered aged 12 in 1964, was convinced the book would contain clues to the location of his body. "I think he will try to hide something in it. That is how his mind works. He likes to play games, because he thinks he is cleverer than everyone else."

The high court will decide on Monday if the injunction should be lifted.