Maternal Filicide and Mental Illness

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a case that occurred in New Port Richey, Florida, in which a young mother, Jessica Warren, killed her son. It describes her history of unstable behavior and family history of schizophrenia and then discusses research on the link between maternal filicide (or mothers killing their children) and mental illness. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on the need for continued future research into this area.

Table of Contents:
Filicide and Schizophrenia
Continued Research
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Warren may have believed the voices that she heard were real beings, as displayed by her belief that she was killing demons when she accidentally killed her son. Garrett and Silva (2003) suggest that this belief might be an error in "source monitoring," the process by which a person determines the origination of an event (p. 445). Garrett and Silva studied a population of 41 patients with auditory hallucinations, housed at an inner-city psychiatric service (pp. 447-448). Patients were subject to "semi-structured, recorded, and transcribed" interviews, which were then analyzed using the previously developed Source Monitoring Framework (pp. 446-447). Twelve percent of the patients reported hearing command hallucinations that were so powerful as to suggest a real presence. However, these voices were distinguishable from the voices of real people with whom they interacted (Garrett & Silva, 2003, p. 451)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Friedman, S. H., Hrouda, D. R., Holden, C. E., Noffsinger, S. G., & Resnick, P. J. (2005). Filicide-Suicide: Common factors in parents who kill their children and themselves. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 33(4): 496-504.
• Friedman, S. H., Horwitz, S. M., & Resnick, P. J. (2005). Child murder by mothers: A critical analysis of the current state of knowledge and a research agenda. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(9): 1578-1587.
• Garrett, M., & Silva, R. (2003). Auditory hallucinations, source monitoring, and the belief that "voices" are real. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 29(3): 445-447.
• Lake, T. (2007). Caring mom was troubled, pals say. Retrieved 16 June 2007 from http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/16/Pasco/Caring_mom_was_troubl.shtml
• Lewis, C. F., & Bunce, S. C. (2003). Impact of psychosis on maternal filicide. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 31(4): 459-70.

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