Schizophrenia and Homicidal Behavior

Abstract

It is generally thought that schizophrenia does not predispose subjects to homicidal behavior. However, many previous studies have suffered from notable methodological weaknesses. In particular, obtaining comprehensive study groups of violent offenders has been difficult. Finnish police have been able to solve about 97 percent of homicides during the last few decades. Because most homicide offenders are subjected to intensive forensic psychiatric examination, we were able to obtain data for 93 homicide offenders with schizophrenia among 1,423 arrested during a 12-year period. Calculations of the odds ratios revealed that the risk of committing a homicide was about 10 times greater for schizophrenia patients of both genders than it was for the general population. Schizophrenia without alcoholism increased the odds ratio more than 7 times; schizophrenia with coexisting alcoholism more than 17 times males.

Schizophrénie et violence : comorbidités et typologies

“…Si quelques auteurs estiment que la schizophrénie reste liée à la violence indépendamment d'une personnalité antisociale associée [10], d'autres estiment que ce trouble de la personnalité antisociale prémorbide pourrait être un facteur indépendant de la maladie mentale dans le risque de commettre un meurtre [24,64] ou une agression sexuelle [83]. Le trouble de personnalité antisociale serait un facteur de violence ou de délinquance plus stable que le seul diagnostic de trouble mental grave [43].…”

“…Le risque de comportement violent serait accru chez les patients psychotiques lorsque leur sont associés une consommation chronique [24], un abus ou une dépendance à des substances psychoactives [78] pendant l'intoxication ou lors des conséquences à long terme…”

“…Dans la schizophrénie, ce lien existerait entre l'abus de substances et la dangerosité [87], la violence [11,22,24,77,97,101], la récidive violente [92] ou l'homicide [24], et plus spécifiquement entre l'abus d'alcool et l'agressivité [88], la violence [1,22,24,77,100], ou l'homicide [23,24], entre l'abus de plusieurs substances et la violence [90], entre l'abus d'alcool et de cannabis et la violence [54], ou entre l'abus de drogues et la violence [19,84].…”

Matricide and schizophrenia in the 21st century: a review and illustrative cases

“…1,2,3 Although definite causal relationships between specific mental illnesses and specific forms of homicide have been difficult to establish, Gillies (1965) 4 made the bold assertion that matricide is the "schizophrenic crime". Since his curious impression, several studies and case reports in the last century had attempted to substantiate or repudiate his claim.…”

Facing up to our responsibilities: Commentary on … The Draft Mental Health Bill in England: without principles

“…Schizophrenia, which accounts for a large part of the public mental health service's case-load, and for most compulsory admissions, is associated with criminal behaviour, and violent criminality in particular (Brennan et al, 2000;Walsh et al, 2001;Soyka et al, 2004;Wallace et al, 2004). Those with schizophrenia constitute less than 1% of the population but account for some 5-10% of homicides, which is far from a trivial contribution (Eronen et al, 1996;Wallace et al, 1998;Erb et al, 2001;Schanda et al, 2004). A reluctance by many mental health professionals to face up to the implications of the association between serious violence and serious mental illness contributes to a situation where many ordinary people, and their political representatives, no longer trust our profession to discharge its responsibilities.…”