Objective: This review article discusses the multi-dimensional and
complex pattern of filicide from a psychodynamic perspective with
reference to the recent publications. Creating awareness to filicide
among professionals will help to the correct assessment of the cases,
recognition of and intervention on filicide before the act, and the
development of preventive mechanisms.
Method: Published articles between January 1960 and March 2020
were searched using the keywords ‘filicide, infanticide, neonaticide,
mother/ parent/ maternal/ paternal, psychodynamics’ in the Google
Scholar, EBSCHO-HOST, Science-Direct, PubMed and Web of
Science databases.
Results: The term filicide refers to the murder of the offspring by the
parent. Although it is a common belief that the children are murdered
boy strangers, the reported figures may not be representing the truth.
No families are detected in one fourth of all murdered infants within
the first 24 hours. The death of abondoned children are classified as
‘due to natural causes’. Some murders might not be reported properly
and therefore, actual murders by own parents might have been missed
on the records. It is known that filicide is a heterogeneous phenomenon
requiring a multidimensional evaluation in being affected by cultural
values, belief systems of the society as well as the bio-psycho-social and
developmental variables. It is reported in the literature that filicide cases
have a common profile and that training clinicians on this complex
phenomenon would be effective on prevention strategies.
Conclusion: The concept of filicide is controversial in many aspects
and mental health professionals tend to distance themselves since the
concept is associated with ‘crime’. However it is crucial to elucidate
the psychodinamic background on violence and discuss the risk factors,
triggers, background dynamics and psychopathologies underlying this
phenomenon.