Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle
We present here a case in which Huntington disease (HD) was diagnosed upon forensic-psychiatric evaluation of a 34-year-old male repeat offender. Despite a family history of HD, as well as overt delusions and motor pathology, the disease had not been recognized at an earlier stage, and the patient w...
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2019-07-01
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Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00477/full |
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doaj-dadda1a77f3347909c2825d20d259fb42020-11-24T20:58:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402019-07-011010.3389/fpsyt.2019.00477439631Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal LifestyleJonatan Hedlund0Jonatan Hedlund1Thomas Masterman2Thomas Masterman3Department for Forensic Psychiatry, National Board of Forensic Medicine, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment for Forensic Psychiatry, National Board of Forensic Medicine, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, SwedenWe present here a case in which Huntington disease (HD) was diagnosed upon forensic-psychiatric evaluation of a 34-year-old male repeat offender. Despite a family history of HD, as well as overt delusions and motor pathology, the disease had not been recognized at an earlier stage, and the patient was serving a prison sentence at the time of diagnosis. The case highlights difficulties court officials may face with regard to identifying severe psychiatric and neurological disorders in repeat offenders. Such offenders’ gradually deteriorating status could be overlooked by the court, even in cases in which a tailored judicial process is warranted. Also, the present case highlights the risk of using antipsychotic medication to treat HD, since it may worsen sufferers’ capacity to recognize emotions in others, thereby increasing the risk of altercations and criminal activity.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00477/fullHuntington diseaseforensic psychiatryviolencepsychosisdementia |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jonatan Hedlund Jonatan Hedlund Thomas Masterman Thomas Masterman |
spellingShingle |
Jonatan Hedlund Jonatan Hedlund Thomas Masterman Thomas Masterman Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle Frontiers in Psychiatry Huntington disease forensic psychiatry violence psychosis dementia |
author_facet |
Jonatan Hedlund Jonatan Hedlund Thomas Masterman Thomas Masterman |
author_sort |
Jonatan Hedlund |
title |
Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle |
title_short |
Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle |
title_full |
Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle |
title_fullStr |
Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle |
title_full_unstemmed |
Emergence of Huntington Disease in a Man With a Premorbid Criminal Lifestyle |
title_sort |
emergence of huntington disease in a man with a premorbid criminal lifestyle |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychiatry |
issn |
1664-0640 |
publishDate |
2019-07-01 |
description |
We present here a case in which Huntington disease (HD) was diagnosed upon forensic-psychiatric evaluation of a 34-year-old male repeat offender. Despite a family history of HD, as well as overt delusions and motor pathology, the disease had not been recognized at an earlier stage, and the patient was serving a prison sentence at the time of diagnosis. The case highlights difficulties court officials may face with regard to identifying severe psychiatric and neurological disorders in repeat offenders. Such offenders’ gradually deteriorating status could be overlooked by the court, even in cases in which a tailored judicial process is warranted. Also, the present case highlights the risk of using antipsychotic medication to treat HD, since it may worsen sufferers’ capacity to recognize emotions in others, thereby increasing the risk of altercations and criminal activity. |
topic |
Huntington disease forensic psychiatry violence psychosis dementia |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00477/full |
work_keys_str_mv |
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