NCJ Number
56734
Journal
MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: (1962) Pages: 176-177
Date Published
1962
Length
4 pages
Annotation
CASE STUDIES AND RESEARCH INDICATING THAT SOME MURDERS MAY BE SUBSTITUTES FOR EPILEPTIC CONVULSIONS ARE DISCUSSED.
Abstract
THE TERM 'AUTONOMIC DIENCEPHALIC EPILEPSY' HAS BEEN USED TO DESCRIBE A FORM OF EPILEPSY CHARACTERIZED BY THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF ATTACKS IN WHICH THE VICTIM SUFFERS A DISTURBANCE OF AFFECTIVITY, VEGETATIVE DISORDERS, AND SOMETIMES A MILD DIMINUTION OF THE FIELD OF CONSCIOUSNESS. DURING THESE ATTACKS, THE VICTIM MAY BE PRONE TO HOMICIDAL OR SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR. AUTONOMIC EPILEPSY FORMS A TRANSITION BETWEEN DIENCEPHALIC EPILEPSY (THAT ARISING FROM THE POSTERIOR SECTION OF THE FOREBRAIN) AND CONVULSIVE EPILEPSY (THE ATTACK THAT OCCURS WHEN THE DISRUPTION DIFFUSES TO THE SUBCORTICAL NUCLEI AND CORTEX OF THE BRIAN). PERSONS SUFFERING AUTONOMIC EPILEPTIC ATTACKS APPEAR TO RETAIN MOTOR CONTROL BUT TO LOSE THEIR UNDERSTANDING AND CAPACITY TO REMEMBER. IT HAS BEEN GENERALLY CONCLUDED THAT GRAND MAL EPILEPTIC CONVULSIONS REPRESENT A SOMATIZATION OF INTENSE, STORED-UP DESTRUCTIVENESS AND ASSOCIATED ANXIETY. INSTEAD OF A CONVULSION OF MUSCLES, THE AUTONOMIC EPILEPTIC IS SEIZED WITH A CONVULSION OF IDEAS. MURDER COMMITTED BY EPILEPTICS HAS SEVERAL TYPICAL CHARACTERISTICS: VIOLENCE (USUALLY WITH A KNIFE), AMNESIA (THOUGHT NOT ALWAYS TOTAL), LACK OF REASONABLE MOTIVE, REPETITION (E.G., REPEATED STABBINGS OF THE SAME PERSON, OR STABBINGS OF SEVERAL PERSONS IN A SHORT SPACE OF TIME), AND NO ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE (OR A CONFUSED, INEFFECTIVE ATTEMPT). SUCH IMPULSIVE AND HOMICIDAL ACTIVITY IN EPILEPSY IS ORGANICALLY DETERMINED AND BEYOND THE WILL OF THE INDIVIDUAL. (LKM)