title: Psychiatric aspects of homicide.
abstract: Homicide is frequently associated with mental illness and suicide. The present study is an investigation of all known homicide incidents in Iceland during the past 80 years (1900-1979). There were 45 homicide incidents, involving 52 victims and 47 offenders. One-third of the perpetrators were either psychotic, mentally subnormal, or committed suicide. A further one-third were diagnosed as personality disordered, alcoholic, drug dependent or neurotic. A substantial proportion of the offenders suffered from fairly marked physical disabilities, and the mentally ill were significantly more frequently afflicted by such defects. Over 60% of the offenders and 50% of the victims were under the influence of alcohol at the material time. The findings are generally consistent with those of previous psychiatric studies of homicide.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology