Psihotic Disorders and Homicide in Family

Abstract

Background:

The family is institution in which the life is born and rise. Homicide is cruel form of violence that is ruining and stopping the life. Those two, exclusive extremities, appear in one phenomenon- homicide in family.

Materials and methods:

This research is one part of comparative analytic prospective study, which last 10 years. In the Department of forensic psychiatry in Prison hospital in Belgrade we examined 266 perpetrators of homicide in family, 212 (79.70%) were male and 54 (20.30%) were female. Among those perpetrators we identified psychotic disorders in 77 mails (36.32 %) and 12 female (22.22 %). Thos groups committed 89 homicides in family with 99 victims.

Results:

We found statistically significant difference between males and females with regard to previous psychiatric treatment, alcohol abuses and intoxicated with alcohol at the time of the homicide. In male group with psychotic disorders, dominate schizophrenia (40, 26%) and paranoid psychosis (37, 66%), and in female dominate paranoid psychosis (50, 00%). Many perpetrators (41% male and 27% female) were not treated because of psychiatric disorder before, and psychiatric disorder diagnosed after the homicidal act.

Conclusions:

Among perpetrators of homicide in family there were two times more male than female with psychopathological symptoms. In both groups, psychoses are most usual diagnosis. The arm of future research should be recognizing factors that increased risk of violent behaviors and comparing those factors among person with and without mental disorders.