O infanticídio no código penal de 1940: crítica à aplicação do critério fisiopsíquico

lnfanticide is described in the Brazilian Penal Code of 1940 as follows: "The killing by the mother of her newborn child during or soon after the birth under the influence of puerperal state". "Penalty: two to six years of prison". This law grants the mother who kills her newborn child a lighter punishment than that given to homicides in general. For this to occur, however, it is necessary that the crime be committed in a special state of mind, resulting from the "influence of puerperal state". By principle, modern Psychiatry refuses a pathogenetic role to birth and puerperium wherefore we decided to study 55 cases in which a woman was prosecuted for infanticide in the city of Rio de Janeiro, between the first of January of 1900 and December 31 of 1993, in order to delineate the role that psychiatric disturbances might have played in the genesis of such cases. We found that, although 36% of the infanticide stated having committed the crime under the influence of some psychopathological disturbance, generally amnesia, the analysis of the cases revealed that in all of them this disturbance was a feigned one. On the other hand, we found that infanticides were mainly young, single, poorly educated women, generally working in non-qualified jobs, for whom an illegitimate child would represent for various reasons an additional burden. In conclusion we affirm that infanticide is a motivated act, not the consequence of any psychiatric disorder and that the privileged legal treatment enjoyed by these women is based on moral factors and not on scientific evidence.CAPESO delito do infanticídio está descrito no artigo 123 da parte especial do Código Penal de 1940: "Matar, sob a influência do estado puerperal, o próprio filho, durante o parto ou logo após". "Pena: detenção, de dois a seis anos. Este dispositivo garante à mãe que mata seu filho recém-nascido uma punição atenuada em comparação àquela reservada aos homicidas em geral. Para tanto, é necessário, contudo, que o crime tenha sido cometido num estado psíquico anômalo, resultante da "influência do estado puerperal". Partindo do princípio de que as concepções etiológicas da Psiquiatria moderna recusam um papel patogenético a fatores como o parto e o puerpério, empreendemos uma pesquisa nos autos de 55 processos referentes a casos de infanticídio ocorridos na cidade do Rio de Janeiro entre primeiro de janeiro de 1900 e 31 de dezembro de 1993, visando delimitar o papel que transtornos psiquiátricos possam ter exercido na gênese destes delitos. Constatamos que, aproximadamente 36% das acusadas aleguem ter cometido o crime na vigência de algum transtorno psicopatológico, em geral, durante um episódio de amnésia lacunar, a análise destes casos revelou que o diagnóstico mais provável era o de simulação. Em contrapartida, evidenciamos que as infanticidas são, em sua maioria, mulheres jovens, solteiras, pouco instruídas, que se ocupam de tarefas profissionais desvalorizadas, para quem o nascimento de uma criança ilegítima constituiria, por motivos variados, um ônus adicional. À guisa de conclusão, sustentamos que o infanticídio é um ato motivado e não consequência de um transtorno mental. Fica patente, portanto, que o tratamento legal privilegiado das infanticidas fundamenta-se em considerações de ordem moral e não, científica

Relationship between epileptic seizures and criminal behavior: A Systematic Literature Review

Objective: The principal objective aims to assess a possible relationship between epilepsy and aggressive behavior. Secondarily, we intend to study how epilepsy relates to criminal liability. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed, using the Web of Science,United States National Library of Medicine (PubMed),and Scielo databases. The searches were conducted in May-June 2022 and covered the period from 2000 to 2022. Eligibility criteria consisted on original articles in English and Portuguese that were interested in the association of epilepsy, criminal behavior (with aggression directed to others), criminal liability in adults with epilepsy. Results: The search yielded 921 results, 794 of which in PubMed, 115 in Web of Science, and 12 in Scielo. Articles that failed to meet the inclusion criteria (206) and duplicates (201) were excluded. Conclusion: There were no findings to indicate a significant increase in aggressive behaviors in individuals with epilepsy. However, it was possible to identify a higher prevalence of aggressive acts in males with epilepsy, besides the presence of comorbidities with mental disorders and substance use. In addition, the results suggest that in criminal offenders with epilepsy, the seizures originated in the temporal and frontal cerebral lobes. Further researchis necessary on the relationship between epilepsy, criminality, and criminal liability in order to produce more robust data to support legal proceedings

The invisible patients: posttraumatic stress disorder in parents of individuals with cystic fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Besides the growing acknowledgment of the relevance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to medical illness, there is no study in cystic fibrosis yet. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of PTSD and the three clusters of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in parents of patients with cystic fibrosis. METHODS: Parents of patients with cystic fibrosis (age range: 2 to 33 years) were drawn from the Cystic Fibrosis Association of the city of Rio de Janeiro. In this cross-sectional study, parents were asked to fulfill a questionnaire for social and demographic characteristics and were interviewed by means of the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTS: The sample comprised 62 subjects (46 mothers and 16 fathers). Current prevalence for full PTSD was 6.5% and that for partial PTSD was 19.4%. Parents with and without PTSS differed significantly in two psychosocial aspects: the former reported more emotional problems (p = 0.001); and acknowledged more often the need for psychological or psychiatric interventions (p = 0.002) than the latter. However, only 6.3% of the parents with PTSS were in psychological/psychiatric treatment. DISCUSSION: This preliminary study showed that the frequency of PTSD symptoms is fairly high among parents of patients with cystic fibrosis, and although these parents recognize they have emotional problems and need psychological/psychiatric treatment, their suffering remains invisible to the medical system, leading to underdiagnosis and undertreatment.CONTEXTO: Apesar do crescente reconhecimento da relevância do transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT) secundário a doenças médicas, ainda não existem estudos em fibrose cística. OBJETIVO: Verificar a prevalência de TEPT e dos três grupos de sintomas de estresse pós-traumático em pais de pacientes com fibrose cística. MÉTODOS: Pais de pacientes com fibrose cística (idade média: 2 a 33 anos) foram recrutados da Associação Carioca de Mucoviscidose. Neste estudo transversal, os pais preencheram um questionário sociodemográfico e foram entrevistados por meio do módulo de TEPT do Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTADOS: A amostra era composta de 62 indivíduos (46 mães e 16 pais). A prevalência atual de TEPT foi 6,5% e de TEPT parcial, de 19,4%. Os pais com e sem sintomas de TEPT diferiram significativamente em dois aspectos psicossociais: os primeiros relataram mais problemas emocionais (p = 0,001) e reconheceram mais frequentemente a necessidade de tratamento psiquiátrico ou psicológico (p = 0,002) que os últimos. Entretanto, somente 6,3% dos pais com sintomas de TEPT estavam em tratamento psiquiátrico/psicológico. CONCLUSÕES: Este estudo preliminar demonstrou que a frequência dos sintomas de TEPT é bem elevada em pais de pacientes com fibrose cística e, apesar de esses pais reconheceram que tem problemas emocionais e precisam de tratamento psiquiátrico/psicológico, seu sofrimento permanece invisível para o sistema médico, levando ao subdiagnóstico e ao subtratamento.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Instituto de PsiquiatriaUniversidade Federal Fluminense Departamento de Psiquiatria e Saúde MentalFundação Oswaldo Cruz Escola Nacional de Saúde PúblicaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de Psiquiatria e Psicologia MédicaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de Psiquiatria e Psicologia MédicaSciEL

The best of two worlds: Combining the DSM-5 and ICD-11 clusters of symptoms for posttraumatic stress disorder in a single screening scale

Objectives: The most recent DSM-5 (2013) and ICD-11 (2018) diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) encompass 20 and six symptoms, respectively, organized in different structures. This study aimed to investigate the dimensions of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) according to the DSM-5’s broader definition of PTSD and the ICD-11’s narrower approach, as well as to explore an alternative restricted model that retains the core symptoms explicitly related to traumatic experiences. Methods: Data were gathered from Brazilian employees (n=1,101) who had directly experienced traumatic life events or had been exposed to them because of their work activities. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used to evaluate the configural and metric structures of the models. Results: We estimated seven models of the latent structure of PTSD including the four-factor DSM-5 and three-factor ICD-11 PTSD models. Given the lack of evidence of their validity, an alternative 10-symptom model was tested. The final seven-item PTSD model considerably improved estimation of the PTSD construct. This solution showed reliable items with non-redundant content, acceptable fit indices, and satisfactory configural and metric properties. Conclusion: The more parsimonious one-dimensional model comprising the core PTSD symptoms has the potential to improve assessment of PTSD

Slow-release prazosin for SSRI-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder patients

CONTEXTO: Prazosina, um antagonista de receptores alfa-1 adrenérgicos, é utilizada no tratamento de pesadelos e insônia relacionados com TEPT. Apesar das evidências sugerindo sua eficácia também no tratamento de sintomas gerais de TEPT, sua curta meia-vida (2-3 horas) pode limitar seus efeitos terapêuticos. OBJETIVO: Descrever quatro casos de pacientes com TEPT resistentes aos inibidores de recaptação de serotonina ou de serotonina e adrenalina (terapia convencional) tratados com uma apresentação de prazosina de liberação lenta. MÉTODOS: Quatro pacientes com TEPT grave, resistentes à terapia convencional, tiveram a prazosina de liberação lenta (meia-vida de 10,8 horas) adicionada as suas prescrições por pelo menos três meses. Os sintomas de TEPT foram avaliados pela PCL-C e pelos itens referentes a pesadelos e insônia da CAPS, na linha de base e no final do período de observação de cada paciente. RESULTADOS: Dois pacientes mostraram melhora dos sintomas gerais de TEPT (redução de 35,7% e 11,9% nos escores da PCL-C), e três mostraram melhora de pesadelos e insônia (nos escores da CAPS). O único paciente que recebeu doses da prazosina pela manhã e ao deitar-se foi o que mostrou a maior melhora dos sintomas gerais de TEPT. CONCLUSÃO: Possivelmente, a sustentação do bloqueio da atividade noradrenérgica no sistema nervoso central promovida pela prazosina de liberação lenta durante o dia se faz necessária para a melhora de sintomas residuais de TEPT em pacientes em tratamento convencional com antidepressivos.BACKGROUND: Prazosin is an antagonist of alpha-1 adrenergic receptor used to treat PTSD-related nightmares and insomnia. Although evidence suggests that it is also effective in the treatment of general symptoms of PTSD, its short half-life (2-3 hours) may limit its therapeutic effects. OBJECTIVE: To describe four cases of patients with PTSD resistant to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or selective serotonin/noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRIs) therapy (conventional therapy) treated with slow-release prazosin presentation. METHODS: Four patients with severe PTSD resistant to conventional therapy received slow-release prazosin (half-life of 10.8 hours) added to their prescription for at least three months. PTSD symptoms were evaluated by the PCL-C, together with nightmares and insomnia items of CAPS, at baseline and at the last observation of each patient. RESULTS: Two patients showed improvement in general symptoms of PTSD (reduction of 35.7% and 11.9% in PCL-C scores), and three showed relief from nightmares and insomnia (CAPS scores). The only patient who received morning and bedtime doses of prazosin showed the greatest improvement in general symptoms of PTSD. DISCUSSION: It is possible that the sustained blockade of noradrenergic activity in the central nervous system provided by slow-release prazosin during the day is necessary to further ameliorate residual PTSD symptoms in patients receiving conventional antidepressant therapy

STUCK IN A MOMENT: TONIC IMMOBILITY PREDICTS POOR QUALITY OF LIFE IN TREATED PTSD PATIENTS

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and disabling multisystem disorder, with significant physical and psychiatric morbidity and poor quality of life (QOL). Although peritraumatic reactions - tonic immobility and dissociation - are established predictors of PTSD severity and development, there is a dearth of investigation assessing the impact of peritraumatic reactions on QOL of PTSD patients. Quality of life has become increasingly important in health care and research as a reliable outcome measure. It comprises psychological, physical, social and environmental domains, providing important information about the impact of diseases on patient\u27s life. This study aims to investigate the impact of peritraumatic tonic immobility and peritraumatic dissociation on QOL of PTSD civilian outpatients. Subjects and methods: It is a cross-sectional study of 50 victims of urban violence with current PTSD, recruited in a specialized outpatient clinic. Instruments used were: Structured Clinical Interview IV, Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, Tonic Immobility Scale and WHOQOL-BREF (psychological, physical, social and environmental domains). Linear regression models were fitted to evaluate the impact of peritraumatic reactions - tonic immobility and dissociation - on WHOQOL-BREF scores. We controlled for sex as potential confounding. Results: The severity of peritraumatic tonic immobility negatively impacted on psychological and environment domains of quality of life. For each additional point on the Tonic Immobility Scale, there was a decreased of 0.8 points on the scores of these domains of WHOQOL-BREF. Neither the peritraumatic reactions showed effects on physical nor social domains. Possible limitations of this study include cross-sectional design, relatively small sample size of tertiary center outpatients and recall bias. Conclusions: Peritraumatic tonic immobility is related to poor quality of life, adding new insights about the relationship between this immobility reaction and PTSD

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) and Life Events Checklist 5 (LEC-5) for the Brazilian context Adaptação transcultural da Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) e da Life Events Checklist 5 (LEC

Abstract Objective: To describe the process of cross-cultural adaptation of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) and the Life Events Checklist 5 (LEC-5) for the Brazilian sociolinguistic context. Method: The adaptation process sought to establish conceptual, semantic, and operational equivalence between the original items of the questionnaire and their translated versions, following standardized protocols. Initially, two researchers translated the original version of the scale into Brazilian Portuguese. Next, a native English speaker performed the back-translation. Quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to evaluate the intelligibility of items. Five specialists compared the original and translated versions and assessed the degree of equivalence between them in terms of semantic, idiomatic, cultural and conceptual aspects. The degree of agreement between the specialists was measured using the content validity coefficient (CVC). Finally, 28 volunteers from the target population were interviewed in order to assess their level of comprehension of the items. Results: CVCs for items from both scales were satisfactory for all criteria. The mean comprehension scores were above the cutoff point established. Overall, the results showed that the adapted versions' items had adequate rates of equivalence in terms of concepts and semantics. Conclusions: The translation and adaptation processes were successful for both scales, resulting in versions that are not only equivalent to the originals, but are also intelligible for the population at large. Keywords: Posttraumatic stress disorder, life-changing events, scales, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5, Life Events Checklist 5. Resumo Objetivo: Descrever o processo de adaptação transcultural das escalas Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5 (PCL-5) e Life Events Checklist 5 (LEC-5) para o contexto sociolinguístico brasileiro. Método: A adaptação das escalas buscou estabelecer a equivalência conceitual, semântica e operacional entre os itens originais das escalas e suas versões traduzidas, por meio de um protocolo padronizado. Inicialmente, dois pesquisadores traduziram as versões originais para o português. Na sequência, um falante nativo de língua inglesa realizou a tradução reversa. A inteligibilidade dos itens foi analisada por meio de critérios quantitativos e qualitativos. Cinco especialistas compararam as versões originais e traduzidas e avaliaram o grau de equivalência entre elas nos quesitos semântico, idiomático, cultural e conceitual. O grau de concordância entre os especialistas foi medido pelo coeficiente de validade de conteúdo (CVC). Por fim, 28 voluntá-rios da população-alvo foram entrevistados para verificar o nível de compreensão dos itens. Resultados: Os itens das duas escalas apresentaram CVCs satisfatórios em todos os quesitos. Os escores médios referentes ao grau de compreensão dos itens foram acima do ponto de corte estabelecido. No conjunto, os resultados indicaram índices adequados de equivalência conceitual e semântica para os itens das versões adaptadas. Conclusão: O processo de tradução e adaptação foi bem-sucedido para as duas escalas, resultando em versões não apenas equivalentes às originais, mas também compreensíveis para a população-alvo em geral. Descritores: Transtorno de estresse pós-traumático; acontecimentos que mudam a vida; escalas; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist 5, Life Events Checklist 5. 207 Cross-cultural adaptation of the PCL-5 and LEC-5 -Lima et al

Os pacientes invisíveis: transtorno de estresse pós-traumático em pais de pacientes com fibrose cística

BACKGROUND: Besides the growing acknowledgment of the relevance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to medical illness, there is no study in cystic fibrosis yet. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of PTSD and the three clusters of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in parents of patients with cystic fibrosis. METHODS: Parents of patients with cystic fibrosis (age range: 2 to 33 years) were drawn from the Cystic Fibrosis Association of the city of Rio de Janeiro. In this cross-sectional study, parents were asked to fulfill a questionnaire for social and demographic characteristics and were interviewed by means of the PTSD module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTS: The sample comprised 62 subjects (46 mothers and 16 fathers). Current prevalence for full PTSD was 6.5% and that for partial PTSD was 19.4%. Parents with and without PTSS differed significantly in two psychosocial aspects: the former reported more emotional problems (p = 0.001); and acknowledged more often the need for psychological or psychiatric interventions (p = 0.002) than the latter. However, only 6.3% of the parents with PTSS were in psychological/psychiatric treatment. DISCUSSION: This preliminary study showed that the frequency of PTSD symptoms is fairly high among parents of patients with cystic fibrosis, and although these parents recognize they have emotional problems and need psychological/psychiatric treatment, their suffering remains "invisible" to the medical system, leading to underdiagnosis and undertreatment.CONTEXTO: Apesar do crescente reconhecimento da relevância do transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT) secundário a doenças médicas, ainda não existem estudos em fibrose cística. OBJETIVO: Verificar a prevalência de TEPT e dos três grupos de sintomas de estresse pós-traumático em pais de pacientes com fibrose cística. MÉTODOS: Pais de pacientes com fibrose cística (idade média: 2 a 33 anos) foram recrutados da Associação Carioca de Mucoviscidose. Neste estudo transversal, os pais preencheram um questionário sociodemográfico e foram entrevistados por meio do módulo de TEPT do Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. RESULTADOS: A amostra era composta de 62 indivíduos (46 mães e 16 pais). A prevalência atual de TEPT foi 6,5% e de TEPT parcial, de 19,4%. Os pais com e sem sintomas de TEPT diferiram significativamente em dois aspectos psicossociais: os primeiros relataram mais problemas emocionais (p = 0,001) e reconheceram mais frequentemente a necessidade de tratamento psiquiátrico ou psicológico (p = 0,002) que os últimos. Entretanto, somente 6,3% dos pais com sintomas de TEPT estavam em tratamento psiquiátrico/psicológico. CONCLUSÕES: Este estudo preliminar demonstrou que a frequência dos sintomas de TEPT é bem elevada em pais de pacientes com fibrose cística e, apesar de esses pais reconheceram que tem problemas emocionais e precisam de tratamento psiquiátrico/psicológico, seu sofrimento permanece invisível para o sistema médico, levando ao subdiagnóstico e ao subtratamento