Matricide by Sons

Abstract

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.