Abstract:Homicides followed by the offender's suicide are rare, and their prevalence ranges from 1% to 1.5% in the United States and in the United Kingdom 1 . There are not prevalence studies of this kind in Brazil. Such type of violence may occur in intimate partner homicide (uxoricide), children homicide (filicide), or multiple family members' homicide (familicide). Killing spouse and children is the most common form of familicide 2 , which has steadily grown in the United States 3 . In order to analyze these types o… Show more
“…Severe mental illness has been associated in certain cases with familicidal behavior, often involving psychotic motivations. Other purportedly associated factors are loss of family control; revenge for the loss of the female partner; fear of abandonment; narcissistic rage; financial difficulties; altruistic urges to defend the family from real or imaginary catastrophes; and instrumental violence [45,46]. One patient in our sample poisoned and killed her two‐year child as revenge for her male partner having eloped with his lover (Medea syndrome).…”
The goal of the current study was to investigate the socio‐demographic, psychiatric, and criminological characteristics of female violent offenders with mental disorders involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital. The present study was a population‐based retrospective case series including all female offenders with mental disorders found not guilty by reason of insanity by the criminal courts in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric facility (n = 27). Patients were assessed with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Axis I Disorders and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. We found that most offenders were Afro‐Brazilian, uneducated unmarried women. Schizophrenia with active psychotic symptoms was the most common clinical condition. Relatives were the frequent victims of aggressive behavior. Most patients had already been diagnosed with a mental disorder and placed under psychiatric treatment, but poor adherence and treatment dropout were common. Violent behavior in psychiatrically ill female patients is associated with a specific socio‐demographic and clinical profile and is thus potentially amenable to prevention particularly if the mental health and social services are to provide the much‐needed support for economically, socially, and psychologically vulnerable women.
“…Severe mental illness has been associated in certain cases with familicidal behavior, often involving psychotic motivations. Other purportedly associated factors are loss of family control; revenge for the loss of the female partner; fear of abandonment; narcissistic rage; financial difficulties; altruistic urges to defend the family from real or imaginary catastrophes; and instrumental violence [45,46]. One patient in our sample poisoned and killed her two‐year child as revenge for her male partner having eloped with his lover (Medea syndrome).…”
The goal of the current study was to investigate the socio‐demographic, psychiatric, and criminological characteristics of female violent offenders with mental disorders involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital. The present study was a population‐based retrospective case series including all female offenders with mental disorders found not guilty by reason of insanity by the criminal courts in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and involuntarily committed to a forensic psychiatric facility (n = 27). Patients were assessed with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Axis I Disorders and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. We found that most offenders were Afro‐Brazilian, uneducated unmarried women. Schizophrenia with active psychotic symptoms was the most common clinical condition. Relatives were the frequent victims of aggressive behavior. Most patients had already been diagnosed with a mental disorder and placed under psychiatric treatment, but poor adherence and treatment dropout were common. Violent behavior in psychiatrically ill female patients is associated with a specific socio‐demographic and clinical profile and is thus potentially amenable to prevention particularly if the mental health and social services are to provide the much‐needed support for economically, socially, and psychologically vulnerable women.
“…Severe mental illness has been associated with certain cases of familicidal behavior, with an emphasis on psychotic motivations. Other purportedly associated factors are: loss of family control; revenge for loss of the female partner; fear of abandonment; narcissistic rage; financial difficulties; altruistic urges to defend the family from real or imaginary catastrophes; and instrumental violence [44][45] . One patient in our sample poisoned and killed her two-year child as revenge for her male partner having left her for another woman.…”
Objective: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the sociodemographic, criminological, and psychiatric characteristics of the full sample of female violent offenders committed involuntarily to a forensic psychiatric hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Method: Psychiatric assessment using SCID-IV in all the female violent offenders treated in the only forensic psychiatric hospital in the state. Results: Most offenders (n = 29) were non-Caucasian single women with very low income. Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis. Most patients had already been diagnosed with a mental disorder and placed under psychiatric treatment, but dropout and non-adherence were common. Conclusion: Violent behavior in mentally ill female offenders may at least partially reflect the failure of mental health and social services to provide much-needed support for economically and socially vulnerable women.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.