Psychiatric Illnesses in the Families of Female Criminals: A Study of 288 First-Degree Relatives

The data emphasize the high risk of psychopathology and criminality among first-degree relatives of antisocial women and confirm other work suggesting a familial association of sociopathy and hysteria.

Abstract

Sociopathy, alcoholism, and drug dependence have been shown to be the only psychiatric disorders more frequent among convicted male felons than in the general population (4, 5). In these studies, sociopathy, regardless of other disorders, was found in nearly 80 per cent. An increased prevalence of sociopathy, alcoholism, drug dependence, and hysteria, or Briquet's Syndrome (3), was found among the first-degree relatives of these felons; hysteria (Briquet's Syndrome) among the female relatives and the other disorders predominantly among the male relatives. Overall, 44 per cent of the male felons' first-degree relatives received a psychiatric diagnosis (6).