Temperament and character inventory in homicidal, nonaddicted paranoid schizophrenic patients: a preliminary study

This study assessed the personalities of 13 murderer schizophrenics using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory, controlling different factors such as institution, treatment, detention or loss of liberty, and can discriminate between schizophrenic patients involved in homicide, schizophrenics with no past violent behavior, paranoiac murderers, and imprisoned murderers with no psychiatric history. Results show significantly that murderer schizophrenics had significantly higher scores on the subscale, Self-transcendence, than other groups, which suggests that Self-transcendence as measured may be an aggravating factor for schizophrenia and may be found in the personality of schizophrenic subjects who performed homicidal acts. This dimension constitutes a way and an additional element for diagnosis not available with the DSM-IV criteria. It may help understanding and predicting violent behavior among schizophrenic patients.