title: Female impulsive aggression: a sleep research perspective.
abstract: The rate of violent crimes among girls and women appears to be increasing. One in every five female prisoners has been reported to have antisocial personality disorder. However, it has been quite unclear whether the impulsive, aggressive behaviour among women is affected by the same biological mechanisms as among men. Psychiatric sleep research has attempted to identify diagnostically sensitive and specific sleep patterns associated with particular disorders. Most psychiatric disorders are typically characterized by a severe sleep disturbance associated with decreased amounts of slow wave sleep (SWS), the physiologically significant, refreshing part of sleep. Among men with antisocial behaviour with severe aggression, on the contrary, increased SWS has been reported, reflecting either specific brain pathology or a delay in the normal development of human sleep patterns. In our preliminary study among medication-free, detoxified female homicidal offenders with antisocial personality disorder, the same profound abnormality in sleep architecture was found. From the perspective of sleep research, the biological correlates of severe impulsive aggression seem to share similar features in both sexes.
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki, Finland. nina.lindberg@pp3.inet.fi
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Putkonen
authors.forename: Eila
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sailas
authors.forename: Pirjo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Takala
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eronen
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virkkunen
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017286:Polysomnography; D012737:Sex Factors; D012894:Sleep Stages