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This paper uses two case studies to show a pattern of specific relationships between traumatic experiences in youth and a later trigger stimulus that released homicidal action. Both men
were institutionalised at an early age by parents; one was sexually molested at the age of six; both were on antipsychotic drugs, and one was also on amphetamines. Both had stopped all medication several weeks before the homicides. Pontius feels that ‘until a refined classification system and neurophysiological understanding of sudden aggression can be achieved, forensic psychiatrists should be aware of the psychotic trigger reaction within a clinical psychiatric model’.
She examines four existing differential diagnoses: impulsive acting out, episodic behaviour disorder, schizophrenia (paranoid type) and monomania. Pontius concludes that each of the above is deficient in explaining the specific trigger reactions. She suggests a new diagnostic category—psychotic trigger reaction (PTR). She suggests that PTR shows promise for clarifying some specific neurophysiological disfunctions. She discusses the outstanding features of PTR within the context of behavioural models known from other fields.
The first model is innate releasing mechanisms (IRMs) known from ethology, which she argues must be modified to be called acquired releasing mechanisms (ARM). The second model is a neuropharmacological one, in which she discusses the effects of amphetamine on reactions to traumatic stimulus in the subjects. Next she draws a further analogy between PTR and limbic system seizure. Suddenly triggered behaviour is seen as a reciprocal action between LSS and frontal lobe functioning, reflecting deterioration in frontal lobe system functioning.
Pontius's paper offers clues towards further research which might prove useful to clinical practitioners working with criminality. The inferences it offers for the analytical psychologist in the private sector are less clear, but perhaps some light could be shed on