Adolescent parricide: An integration of social cognitive theory and clinical views of projective-introjective cycling.

Case histories of parricide by adolescents frequently reveal a history of abuse on the part of the victim and acute depression and suicidal ideation by the adolescent. This paper seeks to integrate an established concept of suicide as escape from "aversive self-awareness" through cognitive deconstruction with clinical observations of "projective-introjective cycling" of aggressive impulses, as a means of better understanding and preventing violence toward intimate others.