[Depression in women - the victims of domestic violence (forensic psychiatry aspects)]

To study the development of depressive disorders in women, the victims of domestic violence, who committed aggressive acts.

Patients (n=12) were divided into two groups depending on acute depressive reaction in response to violence from husbands, which resulted in criminal acts. The first group included 4 women who killed their children and the second group included 8 women who killed their husbands. A psychopathological method was used in the study.

Women of both groups shared the same features of the development of depression: the transition from a neurotic stage to a psychotic stage (with aggression) and then to the prolonged depression. Every stage had its own features, in particular during the criminal act, which are described in the article.