Murder and madness: a case study of the criminogenesis and psychodynamics of a dual murder.
This article presents a case of dual murder committed by a person having a narcissistic personality disorder with traits of borderline personality disorder. The man, who had no previous problem with the justice system and had never shown any aggressive behaviour, stabbed to death his lover who was leaving him and, a week later, killed his own son. Through weekly clinical sessions over a period of 11 months, the analysis of the crime dynamics, the criminogenesis, and psychodynamics of the two murders allowed the reconstruction of the offender's psychopathological frame of mind and, in particular, the hypothesis of a symbolic connection between the homicides: The first appears to have been the result of an act of power and control in order to heal his narcissistic wound, whereas the second was due to his need to expiate the first crime and so could be interpreted as a suicide by proxy.
Facchi
Lara
L
Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantova, Italy. larev@libero.it
Gattoni
Tito
T
Cemmi
Chiara
C
Straticò
Ettore
E
D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D006708:Homicide / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009289:Narcissism; D011209:Power, Psychological