Homicide

Homicide is a health issue both because it contributes significantly to mor tality, particularly among young men, and because of the association betwee n having a mental disorder and an increased probability of committing such violence. Though the number of patients of mental health services who kill is diminishingly small the public and political concern generated is enormo us. Such concern usually manifests in the blaming of the services, individu al clinicians, or both, The community expects mental health professionals t o minimize the risks they face from mentally disordered people and, not unr easonably, make little distinction between those rendered homicidal by psyc hosis, chronic intoxication or personality. They also expect mental health professionals to play a role in explaining the hows and the whys of such vi olence, particularly when it manifests in its more outrageous variants such as serial and mass murder. Those expectations are not unreasonable and a f ailure to respond risks diminishing our profession's social significance. C urr Opin Psychiatry 13:575-579. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.