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Parental Hostage Takers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

H. G. Kennedy*
Affiliation:
Maudsley Hospital, London SE5 8AF
D. E. Dyer
Affiliation:
South East Thames Regional Forensic Psychiatry Service
*
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

Abstract

Three men presented to a single regional secure psychiatric unit over a twelve-month period, after taking their youngest child hostage in their own homes because of a threatened separation from the family. In each case the episode had escalated because of hostility to police involvement in what for them was a typical domestic upheaval. All cases ended without injury. In each man, substance abuse, a family history of domestic violence and fears of rejection were prominent, and the recent birth of a child may have been an added precipitant. There may be a common family structure which predisposes to such situations. Psychiatric intervention was deemed appropriate, with some evidence of benefit for the two men who engaged in treatment.

Type
Brief Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1992 

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