Premium
Barriers to care in severe mental illness: accounts from perpetrators of intra‐familial homicide
Author(s) -
Stanton Josephine,
Skipworth Jeremy
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.3
Subject(s) - mental illness , homicide , context (archaeology) , psychiatry , interpersonal communication , psychology , perception , mental health , medicine , poison control , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , social psychology , medical emergency , paleontology , neuroscience , biology
Objective To review perceptions of barriers to receiving effective mental health care described by patients who had committed intra‐familial homicide in the context of untreated severe mental illness. Method Semi‐structured interviews addressed issues such as support, help‐seeking, experience of illness, and what participants felt might have helped prevent the death(s). Transcripts were analysed for themes related to barriers to help‐seeking. Results Themes identified included: hiding or minimizing difficulties, lack of knowledge or understanding of mental illness, loss of control in the context of illness, seduction by the illness, reality‐distorting effects of the illness, distortion of interpersonal relationships, diminished ability to trust and difficulty acknowledging need for medication. Conclusions Barriers to care exist at individual, interpersonal and wider societal levels and need to be addressed at all of them. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.