Clinical characteristics and legal consequences of violent behavior: a case of bipolar disorder

Abstract

The main subject in criminal proceedings is that of criminal responsibility. From this point of view, bipolar disorders sometimes seem to be a highly neglected subject in legal scholarship. Yet these disorders may affect the decision-making capacity across the spectrum of the law, especially when manic and psychotic symptoms are involved. This case studies a 37-year-old woman, diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder, who attacked the neighbor of her ex-husband during a manic episode with psychotic symptoms. Two types of these psychotic symptoms are specially important: ideation of harm and experiences of passivity/ influence on the body and thought insertion (threat/ control–override symptoms). Hostility against her exhusband was also involved in the attack. Researchers have described all those symptoms as important predictors of violence, and they have determinant legal correlates.