Abstract
Objective: The impact of substance abuse on violent behavior in patients suffering from schizophrenia is well-known. However, the association between the pattern of substance abuse and certain aspects of criminal behavior like the severity of offense, the previous history of violence and the age at onset of the criminal career is still unclear.Method: To assess the relationship between substance abuse, schizophrenia and violent behavior we examined healthy non-offenders; healthy offenders; non-offenders suffering from schizophrenia; and offenders suffering from schizophrenia, with respect to different patterns of substance abuse (none, alcohol only, illicit drugs only, and multiple substances).Results: Healthy offenders as well as offenders and non-offenders suffering from schizophrenia are characterized by increased rates of alcohol and illicit drug abuse. Especially multiple substance abuse appears to lower the threshold of aggression and illegal behavior. This effect is more pronounced in subjects suffering from schizophrenia. In both offender groups the abuse of psychoactive substances is associated with an earlier onset of the criminal career, but has no impact on the severity of the offenses.Conclusion: Our results point to the need for a differentiated view on the contribution of substance abuse to the criminality of subjects suffering from schizophrenia.
Highlights
During the last 20 years various studies have confirmed a moderate though statistically significant association between schizophrenia and violence [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Our study addresses the following questions: a) Are there differences concerning the prevalence rates and patterns of substance abuse between offenders suffering from schizophrenia and non-offenders suffering from schizophrenia?
Patients suffering from schizophrenia mostly were singles at the time of the interview (NoS) or at the time of the offense (OS)
Summary
During the last 20 years various studies have confirmed a moderate though statistically significant association between schizophrenia and violence [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. 1) Compared with the general population, subjects suffering from schizophrenia exhibit significantly higher rates for substance abuse. This primarily concerns alcohol and cannabis, while opiates and hallucinogens are of minor importance [27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40]. Research does not support a link between specific symptoms of schizophrenia and choice of abused drugs [29]
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