Abstract

POZUECO ROMERO, José Manuel; GARCIA BAAMONDE, María Elena; MORENO MANSO, Juan Manuel  and  MACARENA BLAZQUEZ, Alonso. Psychopathology, violent crime, cinema and reality: debunking myths about psychopaths and psychotics. Rev. Crim. [online]. 2015, vol.57, n.2, pp.235-251. ISSN 1794-3108.

Psychopathology, schizophrenia, paranoia, multiple personality and other endless series of terms are those appearing to allude who in an abusive language and derogatory terms are called "lunatic", "screwy", "moron", and so forth. According to numerous authors, it seems that psychosis is the most serious mental illness known to medicine, and the number of times it has been (mis)used to recreate hundreds of stories and film plots of which one of the clearest examples is the already legendary Alfred Hitchcock's film Psychosis that we are analyzing here from a psychological-forensic and criminological perspective. Moreover, psychopathy has at the same time been addressed both broadly and erroneously as a source and subject by the media and ill-represented in countless films and television series, despite the fact that today it is a valid and reliable clinical-forensic construct. The relationship of psychopathy and violence and criminality is very wellknown today, although in this aspect also rigorous nuances and features are required to approach it. This article is intended to debunk the generalized myth that mental patients are very dangerous and that their criminality is strictly attached to homicides, this being common among many authors in their treatment of psychopaths.

Keywords : Psychopathy; psychosis; violence; criminality; myths.

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