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BRAIN RESEARCH REVEALS STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES IN VIOLENT OFFENDERS WITH MENTAL DISORDERS

April 19, 1999

New brain imaging data has revealed structural differences in the brains of violent offenders with mental disorders, bringing research closer to finding a biological basis for violent behaviour in the mentally ill. Preliminary findings were reported by researchers from London's Institute of Psychiatry at the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research in Santa Fe on 20 April.

Researchers hope that finding a biological basis for violent behaviour with mental disorder may eventually lead to biological solutions to the problem. The risk of violence from people with mental illness particularly tragic for everyone, including the perpetrator. Dr Tonmoy Sharma who is leading the research said 'There are two victims in these attacks - the subject of an assault, and the perpetrator, who is suffering from extremely severe mental illness.'

A research team from the Section of Cognitive Psychopharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry compared brain scans of 60 men from four groups. Men in the first three groups had a history of violent behaviour and either schizophrenia/delusional disorder, personality disorders or a diagnosis of both conditions. Men in the last group consisted of healthy controls with no history of violence.

Scans revealed differences in key brain areas. For example, the hippocampus and amygdala - brain regions involved in emotion, governing feelings of pleasure and pain - was smaller in the groups of people with disorders and violence compared with healthy controls.

Increasingly, violent attacks by people with mental illness are hitting the headlines, leading to the misconception that mental illness and violence go hand in hand. In fact, very few people with mental illness go on to commit violent crime, but it is a problem that is poorly understood. In order to find out more about why attacks occur, research is now considering whether there is a biological basis of violence in mental disorder. Dr Sharma said 'We need to find out more about what may precipitate these attacks in order to work out how best to prevent them. Imaging offers us a powerful way of seeing the brains of these people and may help us understand more about the links between violence and mental illness.'

This research project was sponsored by the Stanley Foundation.

Institute of Psychiatry

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