HOMICIDE FOLLOWED BY SUICIDE - A QUEBEC CASE SERIES, 1988-1990

Homicide followed by suicide is a rare but tragic event. Psychiatrists and mental health professionals are often called upon to comment publ icly on the event or to help the ''hidden victims,'' the survivors of the tragedy. There were 39 such cases in Quebec between 1988 and 1990, and they have been reviewed through the examination of the coroner's files. The epidemiological rates of homicide, suicide, homicide-suicid e and the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the perpetr ators and victims are presented and compared with the international li terature. Sociological and psychopathological hypotheses are presented with a special reference to the possibility of various subgroups of p erpetrators. Research needs to be pursued along the lines of more deta iled case studies of psychopathological characteristics using the psyc hological autopsy approach. The reconstruction of the couple's relatio nship and of the final circumstances leading up to the tragedy may pro vide warning indices that could be helpful in preventing such tragedie s.