American Psychiatric Association Publishing Homicide: A Psychiatric Perspective

Most professional books on the subject of homicide convey a criminological or legal standpoint. Homicide: A Psychiatric Perspective complements those approaches by offering a clinical understanding unique in the literature, considering not merely the crime but the broad spectrum of homicidal behavior. Combining psychiatric knowledge of that behavior with actual case material, this work provides a single-expert point of view, synthesizing current literature while maintaining a focused perspective that not only reviews the macroscopic findings of descriptive nosology but also places the individual murderer under the microscope. This new edition considers aspects of homicidal behavior in American society that were not prominent a decade ago, as evidenced by such phenomena as the Columbine killings and public fascination with The Sopranos. Dr. Malmquist draws on his extensive background in forensic psychiatry and consultancy experience in hundreds of murder cases, blending medical, biological, psychological, and social factors to forge a psychiatric understanding of homicide in the twenty-first century. He provides insight into such key concerns as epidemiology, the ongoing difficulty of predicting homicidal behavior in psychotic individuals, and the contrasting viewpoints of psychiatry and the legal system; and he describes how various clinical psychiatric conditions such as narcissism and depression have their own special vulnerabilities for homicidal violence. The book uses DSM-IV-TR as a diagnostic framework and adds a psychodynamic component for appropriate cases, offering a broad overview of homicide today: Cases are drawn from evaluated homicidal individuals, not simply generic examples, and reflect homicides that involve a legal conviction, a confession, or clinical material beyond media reportage. New to this edition are insights into recent homicide trends such as sexual and serial murders, school killings, homicide among preadolescents, stalking, murder by health care personnel, and close-combat killings in the military. Statistical data on epidemiology have been updated, recent cases have been added, and the latest legal decisions are discussed - all making this book as timely as it is authoritative. Homicide: A Psychiatric Perspective is an essential reference for mental health professionals as well as attorneys, correctional officers, or social workers engaged in criminal law. With its keys to evaluating patients or defendants who have engaged in serious acts of violence, it offers unprecedented clinical insights into the homicidal mind.