Neuropathological Changes in the Brains of Suicide Killers.

Tomasz Stępień,Jarosław Berent,Filip Bolechała,Agnieszka Chrzczonowicz-Stępień,Paweł Krajewski,Tomasz Jurek,Teresa Wierzba-Bobrowicz,Paweł Gosek,Janusz Heitzman

doi:10.3390/biom11111674

Abstract

Background: Homicide combined with subsequent suicide of the perpetrator is a particular form of interpersonal violence and, at the same time, a manifestation of extreme aggression directed against oneself. Despite the relatively well-described individual acts of homicide and suicide, both in terms of psychopathology and law, acts of homicide and subsequent suicide committed by the same person are not well-studied phenomena. The importance of emotional factors, including the influence of mental state deviations (psychopathology), on this phenomenon, is discussed in the literature, but still there is relatively little data with which to attempt neuropathological assessments of the brains of suicide killers. This paper is dedicated to the issue based on the neuropathological studies performed. Methods: We analyzed a group of murder–suicides using histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. Results: The results of our research indicate the presence of neurodegenerative changes including multiple deposits of ß-amyloid in the form of senile/amyloid plaques and perivascular diffuse plaques. Conclusions: Neurodegenerative changes found in the analyzed brains of suicide killers may provide an interesting starting point for a number of analyses. The presence of neurodegenerative changes at such a young age in some murderers may suggest preclinical lesions that affect cognitive functions and are associated with depressed moods.

Highlights

A homicide followed by suicide by the perpetrator is most commonly referred to in the literature as a “murder–suicide” or an “extended suicide”
The study material consisted of the brains of individuals who had committed murder and subsequent suicide
Brain autopsies were performed in the Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw, Poland

Summary

Introduction

A homicide followed by suicide by the perpetrator is most commonly referred to in the literature as a “murder–suicide” or an “extended suicide”. The number of such cases has remained stable over time and across populations, ranging from 0.05 to 0.3 per populations of 100,000. It is a phenomenon that is classified both as suicide and as homicide, it has separate, distinguishing characteristics that are different from such acts committed individually. In order not to introduce terminological ambiguity, we have assumed that the term “murder–suicide” used in this paper refers to a particular type of homicide that occurs as a result of a deliberate and planned action. The term “murder–suicide”, in legal terms, would allow for the possibility

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion