[Combined homicide-suicide]

Although the rate combined homicide-suicide is low compared with that for suicide alone or homicide, homicide-suicide generates much public concern. In some cases, the homicide-suicide involves annihilation of an entire family or multiple people. The phenomenon is difficult to study in part because the perpetrator is dead and unavailable for psychiatric assessment. It is nonetheless crucial to attempt to advance our understanding of this tragic phenomenon. The literature review addresses demographic variables, proposes two classifications, one based on psychopathology, the other on the relationship between offender and victim. In attempting to understand the acts of homicide-suicide, inquiry into the following dimensions should be useful: Ego weakness. What type of psychopathology may have contributed to the homicidal-suicidal behavior? Stressors. What type of acute and chronic stressors did the individual experience leading up to this act? Vectors. Whom did the individual select to kill and why? As contribution to this phenomenon six cases of homicide-suicide had been analyzed in ten year period in the Osijek region.