Women as Forensic Patients – Comparison of Patients with Schizophrenia and Related Disorders and Those with Other Mental Disorders

Abstract

Žene su mnogo rjeđe forenzički pacijenti u odnosu na muškarce. Najčešće su hospitalizirane pod dijagnozom iz spektra psihotičnih poremećaja. Ipak, istraživanja pokazuju kako se forenzičke pacijentice mogu podijeliti u određene podskupine s različitim karakteristikama, ovisno o dijagnozi. Stoga je glavni cilj ovoga rada bio prikazati razlike između podskupina forenzičkih pacijentica. Uzorak se sastojao od 31 pacijentice Zavoda za forenzičku psihijatriju “Dr. Vlado Jukić”. Pacijentice su na Zavodu bile hospitalizirane u razdoblju od 2009. do 2023. godine. Podijelili smo ih u dvije podskupine: podskupina pacijentica s dijagnozom shizofrenije ili srodnim poremećajem te podskupina pacijentica kojima su dijagnosticirani drugi psihički poremećaji. Pojedine karakteristike dviju podskupina uspoređivale su se pomoću hi-kvadrat-testa i t-testa. Istraživanje je pokazalo kako se navedene dvije podskupine pacijentica razlikuju. Prva glavna razlika je u razini postignutog obrazovanja. Pacijentice bez dijagnoze shizofrenije ili srodnog poremećaja bile su slabije obrazovane. Druga razlika je u većoj prisutnosti komorbiditeta u pacijentica bez dijagnoze shizofrenije ili srodnog poremećaja. Ove razlike treba uzeti u obzir za unaprjeđenje ishoda liječenja kao i u svrhu prevencije pogoršanja bolesti, a posljedično i prevencije počinjenja samog djela.Women are much less likely to be forensic patients than men. They are most commonly hospitalized for a diagnosis within the psychotic disorder spectrum. However, studies show that female forensic patients can be divided into specific subgroups with different characteristics, depending on their diagnoses. The main aim of this study was, therefore, to reveal the differences between the subgroups of female forensic patients. Our sample consisted of 31 female forensic inpatients of the Department of Forensic Psychiatry “Dr. Vlado Jukić”, who were hospitalized in the period from 2009 to 2023. We divided them into two subgroups: a subgroup of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorders, and a subgroup of patients diagnosed with other mental disorders. The individual characteristics of the two subgroups were compared using a chi-square test and a t-test. The study showed that differences exist between these two subgroups of patients. The first main difference is in the level of education. Patients who were not diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorder were less educated. The other difference involved a more frequent occurrence of comorbidity in the patients who were not diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorder. These differences should be taken into account in order to achieve the best possible treatment outcome and also to prevent the aggravation of the illness, consequently preventing the commission of the offence itself