{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,18]],"date-time":"2026-04-18T11:42:07Z","timestamp":1776512527634,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]],"date-time":"2025-10-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1759881600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008678","name":"Universit\u00e4t Leipzig","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008678","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>There is evidence that there is a small group of people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who are more likely to commit homicide than those in the general population. The aim of this study is to re-examine the much-discussed psychopathological concept of Threat\/Control-Override with particular regard to its specificity for schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which has not been investigated to date.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A file-based, retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted to obtain a complete overview of all forensic homicide offenders detained in the Berlin Forensic Hospital as of 31 December 2014.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Of a total of 614 forensic patients, 110 committed homicide (17.9%). There are three main diagnostic groups in the forensic hospital who committed homicide: schizophrenia spectrum disorders (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>=78), substance use disorders (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>=11), and personality disorders (<jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>=21). All patients were characterised by being male, unemployed and single. Both the total TCO complex (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>=.001) and the Threat (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>=.001) and Control-Override (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>=.001) symptoms were statistically significantly more frequent in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the group comparison.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>For the first time, the TCO complex is examined in a cross-diagnostic comparison, and the specificity of TCO for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders with the most serious violent offences can be demonstrated. In order to avoid false positives and to be able to identify clear psychopathological risk symptoms, future studies should include larger samples and, most importantly, non-offending controls.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1658271","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]],"date-time":"2025-10-08T05:42:18Z","timestamp":1759902138000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["The specificity of the Threat\/Control-Override concept in schizophrenia \u2013 new insights from a retrospective cross-sectional study of forensic homicide offenders"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Hannelore","family":"Findeis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Strau\u00df","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hans-Ludwig","family":"Kr\u00f6ber","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/SCHBUL\/SBY020","article-title":"Prevalence rate and risk factors of victimization in adult patients with a psychotic disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"45","author":"De Vries","year":"2019","journal-title":"Schizophr Bull"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-86859-7","volume-title":"Gewalttaten Geistesgest\u00f6rter","author":"H\u00e4fner","year":"1973"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/S11757-019-00562-3","article-title":"Psychiatrischer Beitrag: Korrelate zuk\u00fcnftiger Gewalt bei Personen, die wegen einer Schizophrenie behandelt werden","volume":"13","author":"Curic","year":"2019","journal-title":"Forensische Psychiatrie Psychologie Kriminologie"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/PS.47.4.403","article-title":"Factors associated with homicide recidivism in a 13-year sample of homicide offenders in Finland","volume":"47","author":"Eronen","year":"1996","journal-title":"Psychiatr Serv"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/JOURNAL.PMED.1000120","article-title":"Schizophrenia and violence: systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"6","author":"Fazel","year":"2009","journal-title":"PLoS Med"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"98","DOI":"10.1111\/J.1600-0047.2004.00305.X","article-title":"Homicide and major mental disorders: a 25-year study","volume":"110","author":"Schanda","year":"2004","journal-title":"Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/JOURNAL.PONE.0055942","article-title":"Risk factors for violence in psychosis: systematic review and meta-regression analysis of 110 studies","volume":"8","author":"Witt","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/BJP.147.5.491","article-title":"Motives for offending among violent and psychotic men","volume":"147","author":"Taylor","year":"1985","journal-title":"Br J Psychiatry : J Ment Sci"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1002\/CBM.366","article-title":"Homicide and schizophrenia: maybe treatment does have a preventive effect","volume":"11","author":"Erb","year":"2001","journal-title":"Criminal Behav Ment Health : CBMH"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1001\/ARCHPSYC.1996.01830060039005","article-title":"Mental disorders and homicidal behavior in Finland","volume":"53","author":"Eronen","year":"1996","journal-title":"Arch Gen Psychiatry"},{"key":"B11","first-page":"91","article-title":"Pr\u00e4diktoren f\u00fcr Gewaltdelikte bei Schizophrenie","volume-title":"Schizophrenie und Gewalt","author":"Stompe","year":"2018"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1192\/BJP.172.6.477","article-title":"Serious criminal offending and mental disorder. 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