Transcript The Psychology of Parricide

The Psychology
of Parricide
Julia Mitrevski, MD
University of California, San Francisco
Psychiatry and the Law Program
What drives someone to kill
their parents?
Definitions
• Parricide
– Killing one’s mother or father
• Matricide
– Killing one’s mother
• Patricide
– Killing one’s father
Overview
• Epidemiology
• Spectrum of reactive & psychotic
parricides with case examples
• Psychological theories of parricide
• Specific issues in matricide
• Female offenders
Epidemiology
Epidemiology of Parricide (1)
• It is uncommon
• Accounts for less than 4% of
homicides
• Accounts for 20-30% of homicides
committed by psychotic individuals
Marleau J et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2003
Epidemiology of Parricide (2)
Based on FBI data (years studied 1977-1986):
• 2.2% of all homicides were parricides
• 1.5% of all homicides were patricides
• 0.7% of all homicides were matricides
• Matricide less common than patricide
• Approximately 200,000 homicides over 10
years in United States
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Epidemiology of Parricide (3)
• Male to female ratio 6:1
• Many studies indicate that patricide
committed by sons is the most frequent
form of parricide
• However, in parricides committed by
psychotic individuals, the number of
matricides equals the number of
patricides
• In Canada, 90% of parricide offenders
were sons (1961-1989)
Marleau J et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2003
Epidemiology of Parricide (4)
• Sons who kill their fathers tend to be
younger than those who kill their
mothers
• 86% of matricides committed by sons
• Average age of matricide offenders: 30
(only 15% below age 18)
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Spectrum of Psychotic &
Reactive Parricides
Spectrum of Psychotic &
Reactive Parricides
Psychotic Parricides
• History of chronic
psychotic illness
• Delusional about
victim(s)
• Dependent on
victim(s) – may be
because of illness
itself rather than
innate family
dysfunction
Reactive Parricides
• Not psychotic
• In response to severe
family dysfunction
• Hostile-dependent
relationship with
victim(s)
• Usually adolescent
offenders
Case example: Mr. A
• 25 year old man with schizophrenia
• Living with his parents
• No prior criminal history
• Killed both his mother and his father
• Paranoid, delusional
• Was off medications at the time of
the killing
Mr. A
• Bludgeoned parents in their home
with a baseball bat
• Believed that they were devils and
that he was saving the world
• No known inciting event
• Arresting officers found him bizarre
but calm – he confessed his actions
• Found not guilty by reason of insanity
Risk Factors for Psychotic
Parricides
• Paranoid schizophrenia with
persecutory, grandiose, and religious
delusions
• Dependent on parent-victim, having
never been independent
• ?youngest child or youngest male
child
Case example: Gino
From Wertham’s Dark Legend
• 17 year old boy who was described as
friendly and outgoing
• His father died when he was 10
• Physically abused and neglected by
his mother
• When he was 12, vowed to kill his
mother
Gino
• Behavior changed in the month
before the matricide
• Preoccupied with plans of killing his
mother
• Stabbed her 32 times with a bread
knife he had asked her to sharpen
• Felt calm and no remorse after the
matricide
Psychological Theories
of Parricide
Theories of Reactive Parricide
• Psychoanalytic theories
– Focus on intrapsychic dynamics
– A lethal combination of sexual and
homicidal impulses
• Family systems theories
– Focus on pathological family
dynamics
– A lethal combination of severe abuse,
‘lockage,’ and social isolation
Oedipus
• Left his hometown to
escape a prophecy
that he would kill his
father and marry his
mother
• On his journey, he
killed a man
• He went on to solve
the riddle of the
Sphinx and married
the widowed queen of
Thebes
Oedipus
Oedipus complex
• Freud used the myth of Oedipus as an
allegory describing the unconscious
wishes of every man
Oedipus complex
• A characteristic constellation of drives,
relations, fears, and identifications that
manifest from age 3 to 6 but persist
throughout life
• Broadly used to designate a triangular
relationship between the child and his or
her parents
• The child fears retaliation for the forbidden
incestuous and parricidal wishes
Theories of Matricide
Psychoanalytic:
•
Oedipal sexual rivalry (triangular dynamic)
– Sexual strivings for father, rivalry with
mother
– Matricide as proxy for sexual
intercourse with mother
• A non-rivalrous, but sexualized attachment
to the mother (dyadic dynamic)
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Orestes
• Orestes’s mother
and her new lover
killed his father
• As an adult,
Orestes killed his
mother and her
husband to avenge
his father’s murder
Orestes complex
• Studied by Wertham in the 1930s-40s
• An alternative view that hatred of the
mother was a derivative of the Oedipus
complex
• Refers to an ambivalent and excessive
attachment to the mother that may be
transformed into matricidal rage
• Wertham claimed that matricidal men
used excessive violence
Wertham’s Dark Legend
Published in 1940s, study of matricide
– No history of delinquency
– “Excessively attached” to and “unusually
fond” of their mother
– Matricide usually in mother’s bedroom
– Shift from fantasy to action: “catathymic
crisis” (hatred for mother superimposed on
sexual desire for her)
Scherl DJ et al. Journal of American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1966
Theories of Parricide
Family Systems Theory:
• Primary cause attributed to an
abusive and pathological family
structure
• In severe cases, one parent utilizes
the adolescent as an instrument of
spouse murder
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Family Systems Theory (1)
Risk factors for reactive parricide:
• Extreme abuse
• Isolation of offender
• Conflict-oriented style of problem solving
(win/lose)
• Pressure to please parents or rescue one
parent
• Family denial of desperate situation
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Family Systems Theory (2)
• Enmeshed family leading to social
isolation
• Presence of weapons
• Suppression of anger can lead to “pressure
cooker” effect
• Culmination of parental abuse that can no
longer be tolerated
Post, S. Child Welfare, 1982
Family Systems Theory (3)
• Reactive parricide offenders have
experienced chronic hatred for the parentvictim
• This hatred accounts for the goal-directed
nature of the killing
• These parricides are committed because
the adolescent is sufficiently autonomous
to carry out the act but too dependent to
be able to break away from the parental
home
Tanay, E. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 1976
Reactive Patricide
Case example:
• 22 year old man with a long history of
physical abuse by his father
• Also witnessed his father abusing his
siblings and his mother
• Claimed he killed his father to save
himself, his mother, and his siblings from
the misery and cruelty of his father
Singhal S. et al. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1990
Comparison of Adolescent
Parricides & Other Homicides
Case-control study:
1. adolescents charged with parricide
2. adolescents charged with
murdering a non-parent relative or
close friend
3. adolescents charged with
murdering a stranger
Corder B. et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976
Comparison of Adolescent
Parricides & Other Homicides
• All came from homes with severe family
dysfunction – marital conflict, economic
insecurity, parental brutality, social
isolation
• All showed a low incidence of selfdestructive behavior and no drug or
alcohol intoxication at the time of the
crime
Corder B. et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976
Comparison of Adolescent
Parricides & Other Homicides
Adolescents charged with stranger homicide
• poor impulse control
• aggressive behavior
• previous arrests
• antisocial behavior common in parents
Corder B. et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976
Comparison of Adolescent
Parricides & Other Homicides
Adolescents charged with parricide
• fewer social outlets
• fewer indications of poor impulse control or
aggression
• more severe abuse by parents
• overattachment to mother
• sexually overstimulated by parents
• presence of domestic violence
Corder B. et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1976
Psychotic Parricide (1)
Studied 15 men who committed matricide
and were admitted to a forensic hospital
• Divided into diagnostic groups
– Schizophrenia
– Substance-induced psychosis
• Psychology and social factors explored
Campion J et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
Psychotic Parricide (2)
Schizophrenia (8 of 15)
• Youngest child, youngest male child, or only
child
• Dependent on mother, despite hostility
perceived by the men
• Ineffectual or absent fathers
• Excessive force used, 5 mothers killed in their
bedrooms
• No evidence of incest
Campion J et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
Psychotic Parricide (3)
Schizophrenia, continued
• Psychotic for days to months preceding the
event
• Admitted murder
• 4 had attempted suicide before the event, 2
attempted after
• 7 had previously assaulted or seriously
threatened mother – these men had prior
history of chronic psychotic illness
Campion J et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
Psychotic Parricide (4)
Substance-induced psychosis
2 cases, both in their early 20s:
• In the context of acute intoxication, killed
their mothers – one also sodomized his
aunt, the other slashed his mother’s breast
and mutilated her vagina
• Psychotic only when intoxicated (both used
alcohol, one also used cannabis)
Campion J et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
Psychotic Parricide (5)
Schizophrenia:
• desperate attempt to separate from the
mother
• a reaction to a perceived threat of
annihilation
Substance-induced psychosis:
• perceived threat specifically to their
masculine identity
Campion J et al. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
Psychotic Double Parricide (1)
Two cases described where both parents
were shot by their schizophrenic son.
• Family dynamics
– Denial of illness despite hospitalizations
– Parental indulgence
– Father-son conflict
– Dependent son
Maas, RL et al. Psychiatric Quarterly, 1984
Psychotic Double Parricide (2)
• Knowledge of guns
• Warning signs
– Killed a dog prior to the parricide
– Paranoid delusions
– No treatment
• Neither made a homicidal threat prior
to the parricide
Maas, RL et al. Psychiatric Quarterly, 1984
Dependence
• In almost all reported cases of
psychotic and reactive parricides, the
offender is dependent on the victimparent
• In some cases the dependence is
because of debilitating illness and in
other cases the dependence is
because of pathological family
dynamics
Parricide & Mental Illness (1)
Studied 12 men who were mentally ill at the
time of their offense
• Mean age 31 (17-44)
• Single, unemployed, living with the victim
• 7 matricides, 6 patricides
• Paranoid schizophrenia and alcohol abuse
most prevalent diagnoses
• 5 also were diagnosed with a personality
disorder (borderline or dependent)
Millaud F et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1996
Parricide & Mental Illness (2)
• Delusions present in all (persecutory,
religious)
• Precipitating factors
– Drug/alcohol use
– Cessation of medications
– Death in the offender’s circle
Millaud F et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1996
Parricide & Mental Illness (3)
• 25% had voiced a previous threat of
assault
• Personal and family history of violence
• Only 50% of parents acknowledged illness
• Psychosis as a risk factor for matricide
Millaud F et al. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 1996
Specific Issues in
Matricide
Psychosis as a Risk Factor for
Matricide ?
• Unlike parricide in general, studies have
indicated that in psychotic parricides, the
number of mother-victims equals the
number of father-victims
• Is it simply that more schizophrenic sons
live alone with their mothers?
• Or are there other psychological reasons?
Types of Matricide Offenders
1. Juvenile with no mental illness who is
abused by the family
2. Person with mental illness who is
delusional at the time of the offense may be dependent on mother but likely
because of illness
3. Person with both an abusive family and
mental illness (at highest risk for
overkill)
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Epidemiology of Matricide (1)
Based on descriptive studies of samples
from psychiatric hospitals:
• 75%-85% suffer from severe mental
illness
• About 50-75% experience psychotic
symptoms at the time of the offense
• Only or youngest child who lives alone with
the mother-victim
• Incest seldom documented, however,
sexual conflict present in 30% of cases
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Epidemiology of Matricide (2)
• Both female and male matricide offenders
have an entangled, hostile dependent
relationship with a domineering mother
• “Lockage” phenomenon
• 70% female offenders have prior histories
of suicide attempts
• 40% of male offenders have prior histories
of interpersonal violence (20% have
histories of violence against mother)
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Reactive Matricide
• Minority of matricide offenders are under
18 (15%)
• Reactive matricide most common among
adolescent offenders
• Concept of “lockage” – offender has tried
to leave the situation but cannot
• Sexual provocation, domination, and
humiliation by the mother
• Passive or absent father
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Methods of Killing
Matricide
Patricide
Firearm*
39%
Knife
29%
Blunt object 12%
Other
11%
Firearm
65%
Knife
20%
Blunt object 7%
Other
5%
*65% of juvenile vs. 34% of adult matricide offenders
use firearms
Holcomb, W. Psychiatry, 2000
Female Offenders
Female Offenders (1)
• Female parricide is exceptionally rare
• In a study of 17 female parricides – 14
matricides and 3 patricides
• 11 had a psychotic illness (all matricides), 3
had a personality disorder, 1 had alcohol
dependence
• 2 had no psychiatric disorder (both patricides)
• 76% were living alone with victim
• In most cases, the immediate precipitant was
an argument with the victim
d’Orbán et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989
Female Offenders (2)
Matricide offenders:
• The mother-daughter relationship had been
chronically disturbed regardless of psychiatric
disorder
• Relationship characterized by mutual
dependence and hostility
• Deliberate and advanced planning only seen
among psychotic offenders
• Extreme violence was seen in about 50%
• 1 case with sexual elements
d’Orbán et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989
Matricide By
Daughters & Sons
• Characteristically, female matricides were
committed by socially isolated women in
mid-life, living alone with an elderly,
domineering mother
• Mother-daughter relationship marked with
mutual hostility and dependence
• Killing committed with extreme violence
• This is similar to characteristics of male
matricides
d’Orbán et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989
Female Offenders (3)
Patricide offenders:
• Circumstances similar to reactive parricides
• All three cases had been severely abused by
their fathers
• Sexual elements were present in 2 of the 3
cases
d’Orbán et al. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989
Spectrum of Psychotic &
Reactive Parricides
Psychotic Parricides
• History of chronic
psychotic illness
• Delusional about
victim(s)
• Dependent on
victim(s) – may be
because of illness
itself rather than
innate family
dysfunction
Reactive Parricides
• Not psychotic
• In response to severe
family dysfunction
• Hostile-dependent
relationship with
victim(s)
• Usually adolescent
offenders