Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate (PDF)

by Susan Hatters Friedman

Drawing on real-life cases as well as research data, Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate distills the current psychiatric knowledge of different forms of murder within the family. Although crimes of this sort have made headlines for decades — and although violence and homicide within the family are public health issues — little guidance exists in the research literature for mental health professionals who treat these families or for the child protection workers and lawyers who interact with them.

This book offers a unique framework for examining the various types of family murder — delving into the commonalities, the differences, and society’s misconceptions and providing readers with a comprehensive guide to begin to understand these tragedies.

Ten forensic psychiatrists, who among them have interviewed hundreds of perpetrators and thousands of individuals affected by family violence, examine crimes such as intimate partner homicide, feticide, child murder by parents, siblicide, and intimate partner homicide in elderly populations as they discuss • Epidemiology and public health implications• Various motivations for each subtype of family murder• Psychiatric assessment issues (e.g., risk assessments, sanity evaluations)• Means of prevention• Aftermath of these homicides, including sentencing of and working with the perpetrator

No other single source gathers this amount of detailed research and psychiatric experience about every type of murder in the family. With a case-based learning approach supplemented by expert analysis, Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate is an indispensable resource for mental health.