Nearly half of those who commit fatal violence in contact with psychiatry

Among those who committed fatal violence between 2006 and 2017, four out of ten had contact with doctors in the open or closed psychiatric care, or retrieved medication for mental illness, in the year before the crime was committed. This shows a new survey from BRÅ.

This means that it is seven times more common for people who commit fatal violence to seek psychiatric care, compared to the general population.

At the same time, it is very difficult for health care to decide which among those who seek mental health treatment who will later commit violent crimes.

- In 2017, approximately 400,000 people were cared for in psychiatry. During that year, 28 perpetrators who committed deadly violence had contact with psychiatry the year before the crime, says Klara Hradilova Selin, investigator at BRÅ and author of the report.

- The possibility of care to catch up to these people is limited and it is impossible to predict who in the patient volume will commit violence. If you look at everyone who has contact with psychiatry, there are extremely few who commit deadly violence, she continues.

There are diagnoses that are overrepresented among those who seek mental health care and later commit violent crimes.

- There are many more people who have psychotic illnesses, personality disorders and above all addiction problems, often with different drugs in combination, compared to those who seek psychiatric care among the general population.

When the deadly violence is committed against someone in the family, it is especially common for the perpetrator to seek mental health care in the year before the crime. During the years 2006-2017, this was the case for 45 percent of cases.

Among those who committed fatal violence in the criminal environment during the time period, all of whom were men, a smaller proportion, 36 percent of perpetrators, had sought mental health treatment in the year before the crime. The fact that men are less likely to seek psychiatric care can cause mental ill health to be underestimated among the perpetrators, according to the report.