The relationship between antisocial behavior and affective illness

Relationship of criminality to endogeneity and anxiety in patients with unipolar depression

The relationship between criminal behavior on the one hand and endogeneity and anxiety on the other hand was investigated in a sample of patients with unipolar depression to help elucidate factors influencing the criminality rate in this population. A lower criminality rate in patients with higher ratings of endogeneity and anxiety was predicted. Clinical records of 179 male and 99 female psychiatric inpatients were retrospectively evaluated using the Newcastle Scale II and Hamilton Anxiety Scale. A full account of conviction records served as a measure of criminal behavior. Forty per cent of male patients and 7% of female patients were criminally registered. A lower criminality rate was indeed found in male and female patients with endogenous type of depression and in male patients with higher anxiety ratings. In a multivariate evaluation, however, sociodemographic variables in terms of age and social class seem to be more important predictors of criminality and all variables we assessed contributed only marginally to the explanation of the criminality variance. Thus, in patients with unipolar depression, sociodemographic factors seem to be of a greater even though still limited importance regarding criminal behavior compared with the clinical variables of endogeneity and anxiety.

Criminal behavior in males with affective disorders

Prevalence of criminal behavior in a population of 261 male inpatients with affective disorders was studied. The patients were divided into 3 RDC subgroups and compared with the same number of matched subjects drawn from the general population. The full account of conviction records in the criminal register was used as a measure of criminal behavior. Altogether, 42% of patients and 31% of non-patients had a criminal record. A higher criminality rate was found in bipolar patients and in patients suffering from unipolar minor or intermittent depression, whereas no increased criminality rate was found in patients with unipolar major depression.

Frequency of DSM-III personality disorders in patients with panic disorder: comparison with psychiatric and normal control subjects

Three clinical populations--panic disorder (n = 88), randomly selected outpatients (n = 82), and normal control subjects (n = 40)--were compared on three standardized DSM-III personality disorder instruments, the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality Disorders (SIDP), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI), and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire (PDQ). Significant differences were consistently found in presence of "any" personality disorder and DSM-III Cluster C (there were always more disorders in the outpatients). Logistic regression analysis revealed the important determinants predicting personality disorders, and therefore of differences between groups, were state depression, age, lifetime history of alcohol abuse, and presence of panic disorder.

DSM-III personality disorder clusters in three populations

DSM-III personality disorder clusters had not previously been tested for their ability to distinguish between different population groups. A major obstacle - different demographic characteristics of different populations - was overcome by using logistic regression. Three out-patient psychiatric referral groups (chronic pain, disability applicants and competency to stand trial) provided subjects; adjustments were made for age, race, sex and education. The groups were significantly different in the adjusted prevalence of DSM-III personality disorder clusters. Clinical association between personality disorder and drug or alcohol abuse was again confirmed.