Homicide and depression

The relationship of depression to homicide has been overlooked in clinical psychiatry. The authors report on six homicidal depressed control compare them with nonhomicidal depressed control subjects. They also analyze data from 81 case summaries found elsewhere in the literature. Their preliminary data suggest that homicidal depressed patients are more likely to have a personality disorder, to have been physically abused as a child, to abuse alcohol or drugs, and to be suicidal than are nonhomicidal depressed patients. In homicidal patients, the event precipitating the depression is more likely to be sexual infidelity, either real or fantasized.