Symptoms

• Delusions

  • Persecution
  • Grandeur
  • Reference
  • Control
• Hallucinations

  • Auditory
  • Visual (seeing objects and/or things)
• Disorganised speech


  Word salad
• Disorganised behaviour

  Lack of inhibition, bizarre and unpredictable
• "Negative' symptoms"


  • Social withdrawal
  • Deterioration of personal hygiene
  • Inability to cry or express joy
  • Unable to concentrate
• Duration of symptoms necessary for diagnosis is 6 months
• Any other appropriate characteristic
• Characteristics of the behaviour that need to be present to be considered a crime

  • The behaviour causes harm to a victim (physical, psychological, financial)
  • Criminal intent must be present
  • The harm must be legally forbidden
• Risk factors for criminal behaviours

  • Genetic factors
  • Prenatal factors
  • Upbringing
  • Exposure to violent models
  • Birth trauma combined with early rejection
  • Poverty
  • Peer groups
  • Use of drugs and alcohol
  • Mental illness
• Types of individuals committing different types of crime

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Socio-economic status
• Categories of criminal behaviour (Farr and Gibbons)


  • Property/predatory crime
  • Property/fraudulent crime
  • Interpersonal violence general
  • Interpersonal violence sexual
  • Transactional vice
  • Order disruption
  • Folk/mundane crime
• Stress


  A biological and psychological response experienced on encountering a threat that we feel we do not have the resources to deal with
• Stressor

  The stimulus (or threat) that causes stress, e.g. exam, divorce, death of loved one, moving to a new house, loss of job
• Stress response

  Sudden and severe stress generally produces increase in heart rate, increase in breathing (lungs dilate), decrease in digestive activity (don't feel hungry), liver released glucose for energy
• Stress response process

  1. Body judges situation and decides if it is stressful based on sensory input, processing, and stored memories

  2. Hypothalamus activated

  3. Hypothalamus sends signals to pituitary gland and adrenal medulla

  4. Short-term responses via Fight or Flight Response and Sympathomedullary Pathway

  5. Long-term stress regulated by Hypothalamic Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) system
• Psychological stress (Lazarus and Folkman)


  A particular relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being
• Stress appraisal process

  1. Phase 1-Cognitive appraisal: Categorizing an encounter and its significance for well-being

  2. Phase 2-Secondary appraisal: Assessment of coping resources and confidence in ability to cope
• Coping resources

  • Physical (e.g. health, energy)
  • Social (e.g. social support from family, friends, social network)
  • Psychological (e.g. beliefs, self-esteem, perceived control, morale)
  • Material (e.g. financial, tools)