A study was made of 58 male Broadmoor patients who had killed their mothers. In most cases the homicides occurred in association with a schizophrenic illness. The remaining patients were diagnosed as suffering from endogenous depressions or personality disorders. Within a predominantly psychotic framework, the matricides often appeared to be a response to a close confining mother/son relationship. This was characterized by a dominant mother and an immature, dependent son, who had frequently lost his father some years before the homicide.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BluglassR. (1979) The psychiatric assessment of homicide. B. J. Hosp. Med.22, 372.
2.
BunkerH. (1944) Mother murder in myth and legend. Psychoanalytic Quarterly13, 198–207.
3.
DalmauC. J. (1967) Anthropocentric aspects of religion. Psychoanalytic Review54, 123–131.
4.
DracoulidesM.N. (1952) La genealogie des Atrides et l'aventure d'Oreste. Psyché7, 805–17.
5.
FingaretteH. (1963) Orestes: paradigmatic hero and central motif of contemporary ego psychology. Psychoanalytic Review50, 437–461.
6.
FlorenceE.C. (1955) The neurosis of Raskolnikov: a study of incest and murder. Archives Criminal Psychodynamics1, 344–396.
7.
FreudS. (1946) Dostoyevsky and Parricide. Int. J. Psychoanalysis26, 1–8.
8.
FriedmanJ.GasselS. (1951) Orestes: a psychoanalytic approach to dramatic criticism. Psychoanalytic Quarterly20, 423–433.
9.
GehaR. (1975) For the love of Medusa. The Psychoanalytic Review62, 49–77.
10.
GibsonE. (1975) Homicide in England and Wales 1967 to 1971. Home Office Research Studies.
11.
GilliesH. (1976) Homicide in the west of Scotland. B. J. Psychiat.128, 105–126.
12.
HillD.SargeantW. (1943) A case of matricide. Lancet1, 526–527.
13.
Home Office (1979) Criminal Statistics 1978. H.M.S.O. Cmnd 7670.
14.
JonesE. (1949) Hamlet and Oedipus.London, Victor Gollancz.
15.
JungC. (1915) The Dual Mother Role. Psychology of the Unconscious. London, Headley Brothers.
LindnerR. M. (1948) The equivalents of matricide. Psychoanalytic Quarterly17, 453–470.
18.
LowerR. D. (1969) On Raskolnikov's dreams in Crime and Punishment. J. Am. Psychoanalyt. Assoc.17, 728–742.
19.
MacDonaldJ.M. (1961) The Murderer and his Victim. Springfield, Illinois, Charles Thomas Books.
20.
McKnightC. K.MohrJ. W.QuinseyM. S. W.ErochkoJ. (1966) Matricide and mental illness. Canad. Psychiat. Assoc. J.2.
21.
MorrisT.Blom-CooperL. J. (1961) Murder in Microcosm. London, The Observer.
22.
O'ConnellB. A. (1963) Matricide. Lancet1, 1083–1084.
23.
RaizenK. H. (1960). A case of matricide—patricide. B. J. Delinq.10, 277–294.
24.
RubinsteinL. H. (1969) The theme of Electra and Orestes. B. J. Med. Psychol.42, 99–108.
25.
SadoffR. L. (1972) Clinical observations on parricide. Psychiatric Quarterly45, 65–69.
26.
SchwadeE. D.GeigerS. G. (1953) Matricide with electroencephalographic evidence of thalamic or hypothalamic disorder. Diseases of the Nervous System14, 18–20.
27.
SharpleyP.SmallI. D. (1968) Positive Spikes, Spike-wave phantoms and psychomotor variants. Arch. Gen. Psychiat.18, 232.
28.
Suetonius (1970) The Twelve Caesars.London, Penguin Books.
29.
Tacitus (1971) The Annals of Imperial Rome.London, Penguin Books.
30.
WerthamF. (1941) Dark Legend. New York, Duell, Sloane and Pearce.
31.
WerthamF. (1941) The matricidal impulse. J. Crim. Psychopath.2, 455–463.
32.
WinfieldD. L.OsturkO. (1959) Electroencephalographic findings in matricide. Diseases of the Nervous System20, 176–178.
