DGov, PhD, Department of Adult Psychiatry, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 62/63 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland.
J Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 2013;41(4):540-50.
Individuals awaiting execution have high rates of mental illness and psychological problems. We examined themes and psychological factors in last statements before execution in Texas between December 2006 and July 2011 (n = 79) and compared them to our previous research on last statements between April 2002 and November 2006 (n = 100). We used the Thematic Guide for Suicide Prediction to examine the state of mind of the prisoners facing imminent death. The most common themes in last statements were love (82%), spirituality (52%), and regret (39%). The most common psychological factors were indirect expressions (43%), identification-egression (i.e., identification with a lost or rejecting person or with any lost ideal) (40%), rejection-aggression (38%), and unbearable psychological pain (37%). These features were constant over time. Evidence of deteriorating mental health, unbearable psychological pain, and increased suicide risk suggests an ethics-related medical duty for psychiatrists to object to the death sentence.
等待执行死刑的人患有精神疾病和心理问题的比例很高。我们研究了 2006 年 12 月至 2011 年 7 月期间德克萨斯州 79 名囚犯在执行死刑前的遗言中的主题和心理因素，并将其与我们之前在 2002 年 4 月至 2006 年 11 月期间进行的 100 名囚犯遗言的研究进行了比较。我们使用自杀预测主题指南来检查面临即将到来的死亡的囚犯的心理状态。遗言中最常见的主题是爱（82%）、精神（52%）和遗憾（39%）。最常见的心理因素是间接表达（43%）、认同退行（即认同失去或拒绝的人或任何失去的理想）（40%）、拒绝攻击（38%）和无法忍受的心理痛苦（37%）。这些特征是随着时间的推移而保持不变的。精神健康恶化、无法忍受的心理痛苦和自杀风险增加的证据表明，精神科医生有伦理相关的医疗义务反对死刑。
