Webermann Aliya R, Brand Bethany L
University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Math/Psychology Building Rm. 312, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250 USA.
Department of Psychology, Towson University, Towson, 21252 MD USA.
Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2017 Jan 23;4:2. doi: 10.1186/s40479-017-0053-9. eCollection 2017.
The role of mental illness in violent crime is elusive, and there are harmful stereotypes that mentally ill people are frequently violent criminals. Studies find greater psychopathology among violent offenders, especially convicted homicide offenders, and higher rates of violence perpetration and victimization among those with mental illness. Emotion dysregulation may be one way in which mental illness contributes to violent and/or criminal behavior. Although there are many stereotyped portrayals of individuals with dissociative disorders (DDs) being violent, the link between DDs and crime is rarely researched.
We reviewed the extant literature on DDs and violence and found it is limited to case study reviews. The present study addresses this gap through assessing 6-month criminal justice involvement among 173 individuals with DDs currently in treatment. We investigated whether their criminal behavior is predicted by patient self-reported dissociative, posttraumatic stress disorder and emotion dysregulation symptoms, as well as clinician-reprted depressive disorders and substance use disorder.
Past 6 month criminal justice involvement was notably low: 13% of the patients reported general police contact and 5% reported involvement in a court case, although either of these could have involved the DD individual as a witness, victim or criminal. Only 3.6% were recent criminal witnesses, 3% reported having been charged with an offense, 1.8% were fined, and 0.6% were incarcerated in the past 6 months. No convictions or probations in the prior 6 months were reported. None of the symptoms reliably predicted recent criminal behavior.
In a representative sample of individuals with DDs, recent criminal justice involvement was low, and symptomatology did not predict criminality. We discuss the implications of these findings and future directions for research.
精神疾病在暴力犯罪中所起的作用难以捉摸，且存在有害的刻板印象，即认为精神病患者常常是暴力罪犯。研究发现暴力犯罪者中存在更多的精神病理学问题，尤其是被定罪的杀人罪犯，并且患有精神疾病的人实施暴力行为及成为受害者的比例更高。情绪调节障碍可能是精神疾病导致暴力和/或犯罪行为的一种方式。尽管有许多关于分离性障碍（DDs）患者具有暴力倾向的刻板描述，但DDs与犯罪之间的联系很少被研究。
我们回顾了关于DDs与暴力的现有文献，发现其仅限于案例研究综述。本研究通过评估173名正在接受治疗的DDs患者6个月内的刑事司法参与情况来填补这一空白。我们调查了患者自我报告的分离症状、创伤后应激障碍和情绪调节障碍症状，以及临床医生报告的抑郁症和物质使用障碍是否能预测他们的犯罪行为。
过去6个月的刑事司法参与率显著较低：13%的患者报告与警方有过一般接触，5%的患者报告参与了法庭案件，尽管这两种情况中的任何一种都可能使DDs患者作为证人、受害者或罪犯参与其中。在过去6个月中，只有3.6%的人是近期犯罪的证人，3%的人报告被指控犯罪，1.8%的人被罚款，0.6%的人被监禁。报告显示在之前6个月内无人被定罪或缓刑。没有任何症状能够可靠地预测近期的犯罪行为。
在一个具有代表性的DDs患者样本中，近期的刑事司法参与率较低，且症状不能预测犯罪行为。我们讨论了这些发现的意义以及未来的研究方向。
