Citation

Valença AM, Mendlowicz MV, Nascimento I, Nardi AE. J. Forensic Sci. 2011; 56(2): 551-554.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Universidade Federal Fluminense (MSM-UFF), Niterói, RJ, Brazil. Universidade Severino Sombra, Vassouras, RJ, Brazil. Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IPUB-UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2010.01645.x

PMID

21210804

Abstract

The objective of the study was to describe and discuss the cases of two women who faced criminal charges, one for attempting to murder her three children and the other for killing her 1-year-old boy. After a forensic psychiatric assessment of their level of criminal responsibility, these patients were considered not guilty by reason of insanity and were committed to forensic mental hospitals. These two patients received a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, according to the DSM-IV-TR criteria. In both cases, psychotic symptoms were present before the manifestation of violent behavior, in the form of persecutory delusions, auditory hallucinations, and pathological impulsivity. The investigation into cases of filicide may contribute powerfully to expand our understanding of motivational factors underlying this phenomenon and enhance the odds for effective prevention.

Language: en