14. Intelligence, mental disorder and crime

2021 ◽  
pp. 300-318
Author(s):  
Stephen Jones

This chapter presents the concept of mental disorder, in contrast to the possible physiological influences in criminal behaviour. The idea behind the concept is that the underlying causes are not physical in nature, but are due to the workings of the ‘mind’. The chapter begins with a consideration of whether differences in individuals’ cognitive capacity—or, as it is usually called, intelligence—can have any bearing on the likelihood of their acting in an antisocial manner. It also discusses the definition of ‘learning disability’, a legal classification defined as a state of arrested or incomplete development of the mind, which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning.

Author(s):  
Stephen Jones

This chapter presents the concept of mental disorder in contrast with the possible physiological influences in criminal behaviour. The idea behind the concept is that the underlying causes are not physical in nature, but are due to the workings of the ‘mind’. The chapter begins with a consideration of whether differences in individuals’ cognitive capacity-or, as it is usually called, intelligence-can have any bearing on the likelihood of their acting in an antisocial manner. It also discusses the definition of ‘learning disability’, a legal classification defined as a state of arrested or incomplete development of the mind, which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning.


2019 ◽  
Vol 215 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-635
Author(s):  
Sheila Hollins ◽  
Keri-Michèle Lodge ◽  
Paul Lomax

SummaryIntellectual disability (also known as learning disability in UK health services) and autism are distinct from the serious mental illnesses for which the Mental Health Act is designed to be used. Their inclusion in the definition of mental disorder is discriminatory, resulting in unjust deprivations of liberty. Intellectual disability and autism should be excluded from the Mental Health Act.Declaration of interestNone.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Ian Hall ◽  
Afia Ali

The new Mental Health Act 2007 substantially amends the Mental Health Act 1983. In this article, some of the most important changes are highlighted, including changes to the definition of mental disorder, the new professional roles of approved mental health practitioner and responsible clinician, and the new powers for Supervised Community Treatment. The likely impact of these changes for people with learning disability and professionals working with them is discussed.


Author(s):  
Peter Cheyne

This introductory chapter commences with a definition of contemplation as the sustained attention to the ideas of reason, which are not merely concepts in the mind, but real, external powers that constitute and order being and value, and therefore excite reverence or admiration. A contemplative, Coleridgean position is outlined as a defence in the crisis of the humanities, arguing that if Coleridge is right in asserting that ideas ‘in fact constitute … humanity’, then they must be the proper or ultimate studies of the disciplines that comprise the humanities. This focus on contemplation as the access to essential ideas explains why Coleridge progressed from, without ever abandoning, imagination to reason as his thought evolved during his lifetime. A section on ‘Contemplation: How to Get There from Here’, is followed by a descriptive bibliography of Coleridge as discussed by philosophers, intellectual historians, theologians, and philosophically minded literary scholars.


Author(s):  
Jason Millar

This chapter argues that, just as technological artefacts can break as a result of mechanical, electrical, or other physical defects not fully accounted for in their design, they can also break as a result of social defects not fully accounted for in their design. These failures resulting from social defects can be called social failures. The chapter then proposes a definition of social failure as well as a taxonomy of social failure modes—the underlying causes that lead to social failures. An explicit and detailed understanding of social failure modes, if properly applied in engineering design practice, could result in a fuller evaluation of the social and ethical implications of technology, either during the upstream design and engineering phases of a product, or after its release. Ideally, studying social failure modes will improve people’s ability to anticipate and reduce the rate or severity of undesirable social failures prior to releasing technology into the wild.


2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 944-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. Feldman ◽  
Ronald L. Alterman ◽  
James T. Goodrich

Object. Despite a long and controversial history, psychosurgery has persisted as a modern treatment option for some severe, medically intractable psychiatric disorders. The goal of this study was to review the current state of psychosurgery. Methods. In this review, the definition of psychosurgery, patient selection criteria, and anatomical and physiological rationales for cingulotomy, subcaudate tractotomy, anterior capsulotomy, and limbic leukotomy are discussed. The historical developments, modern procedures, and results of these four contemporary psychosurgical procedures are also reviewed. Examples of recent advances in neuroscience indicating a future role for neurosurgical intervention for psychiatric disease are also mentioned. Conclusions. A thorough understanding of contemporary psychosurgery will help neurosurgeons and other physicians face the ethical, social, and technical challenges that are sure to lie ahead as modern science continues to unlock the secrets of the mind and brain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 74-82
Author(s):  
Heather Welsh ◽  
Gary Morrison

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 for people with learning disabilities in Scotland, in the context of the recent commitment by the Scottish Government to review the place of learning disability (LD) within the Act. Design/methodology/approach All current compulsory treatment orders (CTO) including LD as a type of mental disorder were identified and reviewed. Data was collected on duration and type of detention (hospital or community based) for all orders. For those with additional mental illness and/or personality disorder, diagnoses were recorded. For those with LD only, symptoms, severity of LD and treatment were recorded. Findings In total, 11 per cent of CTOs included LD as a type of mental disorder. The majority of these also included mental illness. The duration of detention for people with LD only was almost double that for those without LD. A variety of mental illness diagnoses were represented, psychotic disorders being the most common (54 per cent). Treatment was broad and multidisciplinary. In all, 87 per cent of people with LD only were prescribed psychotropic medication authorised by CTO. Originality/value There has been limited research on the use of mental health legislation for people with learning disabilities. This project aids understanding of current practice and will be of interest to readers both in Scotland and further afield. It will inform the review of LD as a type of mental disorder under Scottish mental health law, including consideration of the need for specific legislation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-156
Author(s):  
Eve-Riina Hyrkäs

AbstractIn the Finnish medical discussion during the middle decades of the twentieth century, the challenging differential diagnostics between hyperthyroidism and various neuroses was perceived to yield a risk of unnecessary surgical interventions of psychiatric patients. In 1963, the Finnish surgeon Erkki Saarenmaa claimed that ‘the most significant mark of a neurotic was a transverse scar on the neck’, a result of an unnecessary thyroid surgery. The utterance was connected to the complex nature of thyroid diseases, which seemed to be to ‘a great extent psychosomatic’. Setting forth from this statement, the article aims to decipher the connection between hyperthyroidism, unnecessary surgical treatment and the psychosomatic approach in Finnish medicine. Utilising a wide variety of published medical research and discussion in specialist journals, the article examines the theoretical debate around troublesome diagnostics of functional complaints. It focuses on the introduction of new medical ideas, namely the concepts of ‘psychosomatics’ and ‘stress’. In the process, the article aims to unveil a definition of psychosomatic illness that places it on a continuum between psychological and somatic illness. That psychosomatic approach creates a space with interpretative potential can be applied to the historiography of psychosomatic phenomena more generally. Further inquiry into the intersections of surgery and psychosomatics would enrich both historiographies. It is also argued that the historical study of psychosomatic syndromes may become skewed, if the term ‘psychosomatic’ is from the outset taken to signify something that is all in the mind.


1891 ◽  
Vol 37 (157) ◽  
pp. 257-260

In a special number of the “Berliner Klin. Wochenschrift” is the report of a contribution to the discussion on Koch's treatment by Prof. Jolly, the well-known alienist, who has succeeded Prof. Westphal at the Charité. Prof. Jolly's contribution is on the development of certain psychoses as an after-effect of the injections by Koch's method. We feel inclined to exclaim “Et tu Jolly!” for of all recent impeachments of the “cure” surely this was the least to be expected. Prof. Jolly must, however, be read, for we shall then find that what he says is, in all respects, most reasonable, and that his statement may be said to amount to an impeachment of some degree of seriousness. He first points out the well-established fact that pyrexia does not affect the mind, during its presence only, in the form of the delirium of fever, but that any and every kind of fever is liable to be followed by certain psychoses. He then states that it was most reasonable to expect that the fever artificially excited by Koch's method would not prove an exception to this rule, and proceeds to detail three cases in which as a sequel to the injections a definite insanity arose.


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