Forensic Psychiatry 1 Flashcards
Prevalence of violence in the mentally ill
4-6x higher than general population
In how many crimes is mental illness an attributable risk factor?
<10%
Which factors have greater risk of violence than MI?
PD
Alcohol and drug misuse
Male
15-30 years of age
Low socioeconomic status
Past hx of violence
How many patients with schizophrenia were violent in first 20 weeks of dc?
9%
How many patients with depression were violent in first 20 weeks of dc?
19%
How many patients with bipolar were violent in first 20 weeks of dc?
15%
How many patients with substance misuse were violent in first 20 weeks of dc?
29%
How many patients with PD were violent in first 20 weeks of dc?
25%
How many patients with schizophrenia in the community have committed a violent act in a 12 month period?
10%
How likely are men with schizophrenia to be convicted of serious violence?
5 times greater than general population
Annual probability that a patient with schizophrenia will commit homicide
1:3000 for men
1:33000 for women
Who did a systematic review of prison studies?
Fazel and Danesh 2002
What did Fazel and Danesh’s systematic review involve?
62 surveys of prison studies covering 12 countries and 22,790 prisoners
Findings of Fazel and Danesh’s systematic review?
In men 3.7% had psychosis, 10% had depression, 65% had a PD.
How many prisoners suffer from an organic MI?
1%
How many homicides are due to mental disorder?
34%
How many homicides are linked to schizophrenia?
5%
How many homicide offenders have active sx of schizophrenia at time of offence
10%
Who suggested that psychosis is 10x more common in prison than the general population
Brugha et al 2005
Reasons for mental disorder being more common in the criminal justice system
Epidemiological association
Prison psychosis
Institutional bias
Penrose Law
What is prison psychosis
Incarceration is a causal agent attributed to mental disorders such as psychosis
Who suggested institutional bias?
Seddon 2007
What is the institutional bias hypothesis re MI in prisons?
Prison is a method of confining undesirable elements of society such as MH patients
What is Penrose Law?
Lionel Penrose examined association between no of people in mental institutions and crime rates in Europe.
Occupancy rates in mental institutions increased with reduction in number of murders and numbers of individuals in prison and number of live births per 1000.
Rate of homicide in the UK
1.2/100,000
How many patients convicted of homicide have some form of abnormal mental state at time of offence?
10%
How many patients with abnormal mental state at time of offence (homicide) have psychoses?
66%
How many homicide offenders have schizophrenia?
9%
How many homicide offenders have a secondary PD diagnosis?
54%
How many homicide mentally disordered offenders (MDO) had contact with MH services in past year?
10%
Annual risk of person with schizophrenia committing homicide in the UK
1 in 10,000
Annual risk of person with schizophrenia acquiring a conviction for violence
1 in 150
Victims of homicide by MDOs?
Acquaintances - family member usually
Who divided filicide into 6 groups?
D’obran 1979
What are the 6 groups of filicide
Battering mothers
Mentally ill mothers
Neonaticides
Retaliating women
Unwanted children
Mercy killing
What is another way of dividing filicide?
Altruistic
Psychotic
Accidental
Unwanted
Spousal revenge related
What is filicide?
Act of killing ones own child by the mother
Describe battering mothers
Impulsive killing
Most common MI in filicide mothers
Depression
Psychotic illness
PD
Dissociative responses
Most common PD in filicide mothers
BPD
Dependent PD
Prevalence of psychosis in filicide mothers
40%
Prevalence of depression in filicide mothers
25%
Define neonaticides
Killing a child during first 24 hours of life
Describe retaliating women
Aggression towards spouse displaced on to child
Describe unwanted children
Passive neglect or active aggression associated with unplanned pregnancies and socioeconomic hardships
Which Act uses the term infanticide
Infanticide Act 1938
Definition of infanticide under the Infanticide Act
When a mother causes death of her child under the age of 12 months by wilful act or omission, but at the time of the act or omission the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of her having given birth to the child or by reasons of effect of lactation consequent to the birth of the child.
Incidence of infant homicide in the UK
30-45 per year
Risk factors for infanticide
Substance abuse
MI
Define murder-suicide
Murder followed by suicide of perpetrator within one week of homicide
Incidence of murder-suicide
0.2-0.3/100,000 per year
What MI is common in murder-suicides?
Depression 20-60%
Typical clinical presentations of murder-suicides
Middle-aged man recently separated of facing separation from partner, depressed and access to firearms
Older male who is caregiver of spouse who is ill where there is recent onset of new illness in the male, depression and access to firearms
What is Parricide?
Act of killing ones parents
How many homicides and parricide?
2%
Who is the perpetrator in most parricides?
Son
Aged 12-50
Motivations behind most parricides
Revenge for sexual abuse
Financial interest
Triggers of most parricides
Spontaneous act during domestic argument
Resentment, explosive anger, jealousy
Clinical risk factors of parricide
Sudden mood changes in background of intrafamilial conflict and repeated homicidal or suicidal threats
Prevalence of non fatal results in England and Wales
One million cases a year
Classifications of non-fatal assaults
Common assault
Aggravated assault
Battery
What is common assault?
Intentionally/recklessly causes another person to apprehend the application of immediate unlawful force
What is aggravated assault?
When an individual attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or does so purposely, knowingly or recklessly under extreme indifference to value of human life
Or attempts to cause knowingly bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon
What is battery?
Intentionally/recklessly applying unlawful force to the body of another person
How many individuals convicted of non fatal violence were found to have schizophrenia?
9%
How many cases of shoplifting involve MI patients?
3.2%
Which MI is shoplifting linked to?
Affective disorders
Alcoholism
Drug addiction
When is depression linked to shoplifting?
Middle aged woman
When does shoplifting peak?
Adolescence
What is kleptomania?
Impulse control disorder
Where is Kleptomania found in ICD 10?
F63 - habit and impulse disorders
How many shoplifters have a hx of kleptomania?
1-2%
Gender differences in kleptomania
Most are women
How many people with kleptomania also have a PD?
50%
Most common PD in kleptomania?
Paranoid
Histrionic
How many fire setters intentionally started the fire?
25%
How many psychiatric patients have a hx of fire setting behaviour
26%
Which psych disorders have an association with fire setting?
PD
Schizophrenia - 8%
Bipolar - 11%
LD
Intoxication
Characteristics of fire settings
Young adult males
Relationship difficulties
Unmarried
Poorly educated
Isolated
Unemployed/unskilled labourers
M:F ratio of arson
2.1:1
Primary gain of arson
Relief or excitement
Delusional motive
Revenge/jealousy
Self-destruction/suicide
Recognition
Attention seeking
Secondary gain of arson
Financial
Extortion
Conceal crime
Vandalism
Political protest
Who divided arson into 2 groups?
Faulk
What is Group I arson?
Cases where the fire served as a means to an end e.g. revenge
What is Group II arson?
Cases where the fire itself was the phenomenon of interest e.g. pyromania
Describe pathological fire setters
Occurs on 2+ occassions
Preoccupation with fire
No excitement
Define pyromania
Occurs on 2+ occasions
Results in relief of tensions
What is a pyromaniac?
Fire-rasier who derives pathological excitement from setting fire
DSM IV criteria of pyromania
Deliberate and purposeful fire setting on more than one occasion
Affective arousal and tension prior to act
Fascination with fire and its situational context
Pleasure, gratification or relief when setting fires or witnessing aftermath
Exclusion criteria for pyromania
Behaviour not accounted for by CD or antisocial PD
Motive of fire setting in those <10 years
Curiosity
Gender differences in juvenile fire setters
More common in females
Females who are juvenile fire setters
Emotional meaning regarding property and others associated with revenge and hatred - displaced aggression
Recidivism rate of arson
4-20%
Poor prognostic feature of arson?
Presence of mental disorder
Main factors of recidivism in MDOs who are arsonists
Childhood firesetting
Younger age at first arson
Total number of firesetting offences
No concurrent charges other than arson
Verbalised threats to commit arson
Setting fires alone
Unmarried
Low IQ
Treatment for arson
Behavioural or focused on intervening in family or intrapersonal stresses that may precipitate episodes.
What behavioural therapies help arsonists?
Aversive therapy
Positive reinforcement and stimulus satiation
What is stalking?
Repeated intrusion involving unwanted contact and communication
Behaviours associated with stalking
Threats
Assaults
Ordering or cancelling goods/services on victims behalf
Sending unsolicited gifts
Initialising spurious legal action
Making complaints
How many stalkers are men?
80-90%
Victim profile of stalking
Women in reproductive years who have had a sexual relationship with the stalker
Perpetrator profile of stalker
Unemployed
Better educated than other criminals
Who created typologies of stalking?
Mullen 1999
Name the typologies of stalking
Rejected
Intimacy seekers
Incompetent suitors
Resentful
Predatory
Which type of stalking forms part of sexual offending?
Predatory
Primary diagnosis in stalkers
Cluster B PD
Substance abuse
In which type of stalking is delusional disorder common?
Stranger and star stalkers
PTSD rates in victims of stalking
37-60%
Factors likely to increase risk of assault in stalking
Substance misuse
History of offending behaviour
Male
Making threats o violence or suicide or fantasising about assaults
Presence of narcissistic or antisocial PD
Unemployed and socially isolated
Access to victims
Sense of desperation
Hx of non-compliance to treatment
What was the RCPsych stalking survey?
2007 survey of stalking of its members
Results of RCPsych stalking survey
22% of psychiatrists had been stalked
1 in 3 had experience of stalking behaviours which met legal definition of harassment
One college member becomes victim of new stalking every week
Profile of stalkers who target MH professionals
Male with hx of stalking
Established Axis 1 or 2 disorder
Under care of stalked clinician