PTSD and Forensic Psychology by Laurence Miller

Author:Laurence Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Dissociation/Flashback-Related Violence

Studies have shown that the symptom of dissociation, whether as part of the PTSD syndrome or not, is associated with an increase in violence in a wide range of populations (Moskowitz 2004). The experiencing of dissociative states, while an uncommon presentation of PTSD in general, seems to be the most common manifestation of PTSD related to criminal behavior. In this scenario, the subject re-experiences elements of the trauma in dreams, uncontrollable and emotionally distressing intrusive images, episodes of reliving the traumatic event, and in behavioral re-enactments of the traumatic situation. In most of these reported cases, the victim of the attack is misidentified as a former enemy who is perceived to be threatening the subject during the dissociative flashback which replicates the original traumatic event, such as a firefight in a war zone or a civilian first responder deadly encounter (Auberry 1985; Friel et al. 2008). For example, an Afghanistan veteran dining at a Middle Eastern restaurant may mistake the waiter holding a teapot for an enemy combatant wielding a grenade and attack the employee to “protect” himself. Amnesia may be reported for the dissociative violent episode, although, in any particular case, it may not be immediately clear how much of this is a self-serving description when criminal charges are pending, inasmuch as many other subjects with noncriminal-related flashbacks can clearly recall their episodes (Moskowitz 2004; Silva et al. 2001).

With all dissociative syndromes, the forensic challenge is to demonstrate that the criminal behavior indeed occurred in such an impaired state of consciousness that the subject literally did not know what he was doing or was unable to control his actions (Miller 2012a, c; Slobogin 2010). For example, many subjects may “lose it,” “go ballistic,” “go postal,” or otherwise attack another person in a fit of rage, but extreme anger or other emotional disturbance, in and of itself, is not evidence of dissociation or of an exculpatory or mitigatory impairment of the mind. This will be discussed further in Chap. 6.

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