Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1036-1039
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
The role of depression in couples involved in murder-suicide and homicide
M Rosenbaum
Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131.
Twelve couples in cases of murder-suicide were compared to 24 couples in
cases of homicide during the period 1978 to 1987 in Albuquerque, N.M. Data
were obtained from police, the courts, hospital records, and interviews
with friends and family of the deceased. The most striking findings were
that perpetrators of murder-suicide were depressed (75%) and men (95%),
while perpetrators of homicide were not depressed and one-half were women.
The data indicate that the murder-suicide and homicide groups are two
different populations.
