Homicide, Mental Disorder and the Media (Homicide and Mental

Homicide, Mental Disorder and the Media (Homicide and Mental Disorder Book 1)

A British family television favourite, Midsomer Murders, contrasts an English rural idyll with convoluted plots of murder, investigated by the affable Inspector Barnaby. The programme attracted controversy when it was pointed out that only white actors featured . The umbrage from its faithful viewers, who unwittingly had been exposed to racial bias, did not extend to the myth regarding the way homicide is portrayed in the media. We prefer fictional homicide to follow particular patterns, as formulaic as any ancient Greek drama. In Midsomer, most murders are carried out by serial killers sometimes employing bizarre means . Assuming Barnaby was responsible for investigating all the homicides in a UK region of half a million, he would have investigated perhaps 100 homicides in a decade. He would be unlikely to come across any serial killers â€“ most would be unplanned attacks on single victims . The identity of the perpetrator would usually be obvious. Somewhere around one in ten perpetrators would have had some sort of contact with mental health services in the six months prior to the homicideâ€“ perhaps 3 or 4 for a problem with alcohol or other substances and a similar number with major mental illness, such as schizophrenia. The homicides carried out by those with major mental illness would be broadly similar to a typical domestic homicide: unplanned; involving intoxication; using a weapon which happens to be to hand; at home; and involving family members (who in the case of the mentally unwell have frequently been in a caring role ).
Common assumptions about homicide informed by fiction are pervasive and are distortions of reality. Such assumptions affect press reporting which places emphasis on the unusual. This reinforces a slowly evolving mythology of murder. It is important for researchers and mental health professionals to appreciate the influence of murder mythology. The mythology predicts which cases attract particular public attention, which in turn may influence the progression of a clinical case. Research exploring mental disorder which reinforces the murder mythology will attract greater attention. Bias in reporting a high profile homicide has misdirected government policy. This murder mythology also obscures public health interventions which may be effective in reducing homicide rates. Any objective examination of homicide and mental disorder is obscured by the mythology.
This series of lectures was written after twenty-five years of thinking, research, and clinical practice. The reader I had in mind was both the interested member of the public wanting to go deeper into a fascinating topic, and the busy mental health professional, perhaps in training or dealing with a challenging clinical case. This series is based on lectures I have given over the years to those preparing for the Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists examination and to postgraduate students in criminology at the University of Edinburgh. They therefore contain all the essential elements that might be asked in a professional examination but offer new ideas and perspectives - unexpected details not found in the standard text books or gems of information forgotten in publications long since out of print.
I also hope that there may be something of interest for the more experienced practitioner or academic seeking to revisit the background literature, perhaps faced with an unfamiliar teaching task.
With a wealth of information this electronic format of publication offers a new way for such topics to be disseminated in a direct, affordable way to a wide audience. I gratefully acknowledge the inspiration of my teacher of 35 years ago, George Harris, whose â€˜A-Grade History Lecturesâ€™ available on Kindle, took an embryonic plan for a conventional textbook to this series. I also have the pleasure of collaborating with a number of colleagues who each bring something different from their own particular areas of interest to t
Country USA
Manufacturer Bahookie Publishers: Edinburgh.
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2015-03-18
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Bahookie Publishers: Edinburgh.
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2015-03-18
Format	Kindle eBook

Homicide, Mental Disorder and the Media (Homicide and Mental Disorder Book 1)

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