VIOLENCE IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS - A NEUROLOGICAL VIEW

• NCJ Number: 56806
• Journal: JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHIATRY Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: (SPRING 1978) Pages: 277-288
• Author(s): J H PINCUS; G J TUCKER
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 12 pages
• Corporate Author: American Acad of Child Psychiatry
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: BASED IN PART ON THE AUTHOR'S BOOK, 'BEHAVIORAL NEUROLOGY', 1974

Annotation

REPEATEDLY VIOLENT BEHAVIOR EXISTS AS A DISTINCT BEHAVIORAL SYNDROME WITH NEUROLOGICAL, PSYCHIATRIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS.

Abstract

NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE (ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC ABNORMALITIES, EPILEPSY, SYMPTOMS OF PSYCHOMOTOR SEIZURES, AND EVENTS KNOWN TO PREDISPOSE TO BRAIN INJURY) IS PREVALENT IN PRISONERS. IN A STUDY OF MORE THAN 400 VIOLENT ADULT PRISONERS IN A LARGE PENITENTIARY, IT IS DISCOVERED THAT 57 PERCENT OF THE HABITUAL AGGRESSORS HAD ABNORMAL EEG TRACES. ONLY 12 PERCENT OF THOSE WHO HAD COMMITTED A SOLITARY AGGRESSIVE CRIME SHOWED ABNORMALITIES. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY REPORTS OF AN IMPRESSIVE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PSYCHOMOTOR SEIZURES AND VIOLENCE. THE HIGH PREVALENCE OF SYMPTOMS SUGGESTING PSYCHOMOTOR SEIZURES HAS ALSO BEEN SHOWN IN CHILDREN (LEWIS, 1976). OUT OF 285 CHILDREN REFERRED BY THE JUVENILE COURT TO A COURT CLINIC, 18 MANIFESTED SUCH SEIZURES AND THE EEGS OF ALL 18 REVEALED THAT THEY SUFFERED FROM ABNORMALITIES. ALCOHOL IS ONE OF THE DRUGS KNOWN TO PRECIPITATE OR WORSEN EPISODES OF VIOLENCE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH A PAST HISTORY OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. THE STATE INDUCED BY ALCOHOL IS KNOWN AS 'PATHOLOGICAL INTOXICATION'. THE INDIVIDUAL COMMITS AN ACT FOR WHICH HE WILL HAVE LITTLE OR NO RECOLLECTION. IT IS LIKELY THAT THE 'DYSCONTROL SYNDROME DESCRIBED BY MARK AND ERVIN MAY BE DETERMINED OR AT LEAST INFLUENCED BY NEUROLOGICAL ABNORMALITY, WHICH LEADS TO VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. YET THERE IS STRONG EVIDENCE THAT PSYCHIATRIC DISEASE IS ALSO A MAJOR DETERMINANT OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR. SOME STUDIES INDICATE THAT ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR IS RELATED TO GENETICALLY DETERMINED SCHIZOPRENIA. HOWEVER, THERE IS ALSO CONSIDERABLE EVIDENCE THAT POINTS TO FAMILY DISRUPTION AS A SOURCE OF VIOLENT BEHAVIOR. BRUTALITY, ALCOHOLISM, AND MARITAL DISCORD ARE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE BACKGROUND OF CHRONICALLY VIOLENT PERSONS. IT IS CLEAR THAT EPISODIC VIOLENT BEHAVIOR IS NOT A SIMPLE FUNCTIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER. NEUROLOGICAL DETERMINANTS ARE PRESENT, GENETIC DETERMINANTS ARE PROBABLY PRESENT, AND THE SYNDROME CANNOT BE EASILY BE REVERSED AT THIS TIME. REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (STB)