With respect to morbid jealousy, the correct statement among the following is:
E. Morbid jealousy (also known as Othello syndrome) may be a presenting feature of schizophrenia, delusional disorder, organic brain syndromes, or affective psychosis. It is not coded separately in ICD-10 or DSM-IV but as a subtype of delusional disorder; the delusion of infidelity is described by both systems of classification. Alcohol, amphetamine, or cocaine use can give rise to delusions of jealousy that may develop into full-blown delusional disorder in vulnerable individuals.
Reference:
The most common relationship a victim may have with his/her stalker is:
A. Using a broad definition of stalking the British Crime Survey (2000) estimated that 2.9% of adults aged 16–59 had been stalked in the preceding year. Women (4.0%) were more likely to be victims of stalking/harassment than men (1.7%). Risks were particularly high for young women aged between 16 and 19 (16.8%). About a third of incidents were perpetrated by someone who was in an intimate relationship with the victim at the start of the episode or in the past. A community-based epidemiological study on stalking from a medium-sized German city reported that most of the stalking victims (32%) were pursued by former intimate partners. Budd T, Mattinson J. The extent and nature of stalking: findings from the 1998 British Crime Survey. Home Office; 2000.
Which of the following ICD-10 diagnoses has a well-demonstrated causal association leading to stalking behaviour?
B. Delusional disorder or erotomanic type has a well-known link with stalking behaviour. An often-cited descriptive study of stalking was carried out by Mullen et al. (1999) in a group of 145 stalkers referred to a psychiatric centre. Mullen grouped stalkers into rejected, intimacy-seeking, incompetent, resentful, and predatory types. These are arbitrary and not entirely exclusive groupings, although such typology helps in predicting the likely nature and duration of stalking and the risk of assault to a certain extent. Among these, the rejected stalkers make up the largest group, formed predominantly of ex-partners. The predatory stalkers form a small group with a high potential for sexual violence. Mullen described incompetent stalkers as ‘intellectually limited and socially incompetent individuals with rudimentary courting rituals’ whose victims do not reciprocate their affection. Resentful stalkers tend to frighten and distress the victim because of a sense of grievance. The intimacy-seeking stalkers form a spectrum, from those with erotomania to those with rigid infatuations. The erotomanic delusions could be both secondary to pre-existing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and as part of a delusional disorder.
It is found that criminal parents are at higher risk of having delinquent children.
Which of the following is a correct statement in this regard?
D. It is well established that having a convicted mother, father, brother, or sister significantly predicts juvenile delinquency in boys. Thus intergenerational continuity in offending has been noted. There is no evidence that criminal parents directly encourage their children to commit crime; in fact, most convicted men disagreed with the statement that ‘I would not mind if my son/daughter committed a criminal offense’. Epidemiological studies have shown that it was extremely rare for a parent and a child to be convicted for an offense committed together. Thus, the major mediator between parental criminality and juvenile delinquency seems to be poor parental supervision, with some role for genetic transmission of antisocial behaviour.
All of the following features are supportive of violence occurring during epileptic automatism except:
A. Violent acts during epilepsy are extremely uncommon. But epileptic automatisms have been invoked as a defence in courts time and again. Most cases involved spontaneous, non-directed, stereotyped aggressive movements, with violence against property being more common than inflicting serious bodily injuries. Severe violence, if seen at all, is largely restricted to postictal states. When aggression presents as a feature of an epileptic seizure, it usually begins suddenly without provocation, lasts only for brief periods, and ends abruptly with evidence of impaired consciousness during the act. The act usually does not involve detailed or interactive behaviour but appears stereotyped. Episodes of postictal or ictal violence are usually associated with amnesia for the event.
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