Public perception of a dangerous person in psychotic exacerbation on the example of a court expert judgement case

Purpose: The present paper describes a case of a patient who committed a criminal offence and was then judged by the media, and especially by web surfers. Mental illness of the patient was not taken into account, this possibility having been treated as a way getting away with the crime. The purpose of the present paper was to demonstrate stigmatisation of the mentally ill, which stems primarily from the ignorance of society.

Case description: According to the case files, the suspect was a 32-year old male with higher education who, during a visit to his family in Canada, had a “nervous breakdown” and returned to Poland to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. After a week, he was discharged from hospital. After 8 months, he had a recurrence of the illness and was once more referred to mandatory treatment. According to the medical documentation, the suspect suffered from an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder with symptoms of schizophrenia. During his stay in hospitals, he uttered delusions of remote control, persecution, reference and grandeur. In the course of hospitalisation, he was aggressive towards the environment and had auditory hallucinations. After approximately two months of the date of leaving the hospital, the subject discontinued his medication. As a result of recurrence of the illness and while driving a car at an excessive speed, he caused a major traffic accident, endangering the lives and health of many people.

Comment: On the basis of the case files, the available medical documentation and the conducted judicial and psychiatric examination, court experts concluded that the suspect was mentally ill, i.e. that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. However, he was not mentally impaired, albeit, at the time of committing the act he was accused of, he was completely unable to recognise the meaning of his actions and make decisions concerning the way he behaved.