MONTREAL – A cluster of Quebec murders, suicides and other family dramas succeeding one another seem like an epidemic but are, in fact, extremely rare – though dangerously unpredictable, a psychologist says.
Three out of four men who kill their own children and eventually try to kill themselves suffer from mental illness, noted Hubert Van Gijseghem, a former Université de Montréal professor.
"Mental illness remains the most important ingredient when it goes over the top," Van Gijseghem said in an interview, speaking in general rather than of a specific case.
A cluster of recent killings of children by their parents is a coincidence, he said.
"And, indeed, this coincidence gives this impression of an epidemic. But looking at statistics, there are no more family tragedies than before. The rate is very small; I believe it’s one per cent of all homicides."
Two incidents made headlines as the case of Guy Turcotte went to court:
–A mother, 28, with her 5-year-old child and 2-month old baby waded into the icy Rivière des Prairies on April 8 and drowned; only the baby survived.
–On May 2, Martin Houle, 37, set his truck on fire, burning himself and two of his children to death in a maple grove near Drummondville; a third child survived with serious burns.
–Four months earlier, an international custody battle that turned deadly saw Predrag Perisic, formerly of Montreal, charged with murder in Texas in the Dec. 13, 2010, shooting death of his son, Deyan, 10. He was also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of his daughter, Danyela, 12.
–Adele Sorella faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of her daughters, age 8 and 9, in their Laval home on March 31, 2009.
Many of the cases involve disintegrating marriages.
About 50 per cent of married couples and 60 per cent of common-law partners with children end up divorcing or separating. But what drives a family in crisis to spiral into murder-suicide drama?
Many elements, Van Gijseghem said, but most important, the psychopathology of one of the partners.
Often it’s a mixture of serious depression, an inability to cope with anxiety and feelings of abandonment, and revenge – "a fiery mix," he said.
"Revenge we find in a number of cases, especially where the man is the killer. Revenge is part of the mixture and sometimes it’s the only ingredient."
In those with personality or anti-social disorders, in addition to the distress of abandonment, feelings of maltreatment and loss of control, revenge is often the main motive, he said.
They are going to dispossess their partner of their children, but that’s not how they interpret the outcome for themselves, he explained.
"They see the children as an offshoot of themselves rather than as individual entities, so it’s ‘normal’ that they would take the children with them," he said. "We see it in narcissism. We see it in psychotic stages, where there are no boundaries between the self and others."
The deliberate killing of a son or daughter is so rare, there is no epidemiological body of research that can provide predictors for this type of crime, Van Gijseghem said.
Often families that look as if they are about to implode do not, while supposedly stable families fall apart, he said.
"This kind of acting-out behaviour is pretty much unpredictable; we don’t know what the risk factors are. But the most important one remains the presence of mental illness. Or a personality disorder," he said.
An estimated 20 per cent of the population suffers from a mental-health issue, "but 20 per cent does not act out."
"We can’t take the criteria of mental problems to predict this. We see it after the fact – that people who act out have mental-health issues."
People in crisis should be encouraged to reach out before hitting the tipping point, he said.
Unfortunately, men have the tendency to hide their distress as long as possible for personal and professional reasons, he said.
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