A man in his 40s who was previously in forced care has been arrested and later admitted that he killed a young woman in Märsta on Sunday.
According to documents obtained by SVT, the man suffers from a serious disorder and has received both open and closed care. The murder suspect appears several times in the charge register and has previously been described by a doctor as “very violent and aggressive”.
After the incident, which is described as an act of insanity, the issue of risk assessment in psychiatry has been raised.
Difficult to predict the risk of violence
According to Katarina Howner, chief physician at the Swedish Medical Examiner’s Office, it is difficult to predict violent behavior in psychiatric care.
– What you can do in psychiatry is to look for risk factors and if it is a condition that is deteriorating. It is clear that you have to do your best to try to find those individuals, she says in Aktuellt.
In order to be taken under the law on compulsory care, certain criteria must be met. The person must be assessed as having a serious mental disorder and in need of round-the-clock care that cannot be provided in any other way than in inpatient care.
– Here you must also take into account whether you are a danger to yourself or others. The person must also oppose care or not be able to take a well-founded position on care, says Katarina Howner.
Back to outpatient care
When the criteria are no longer considered to be met, compulsory care is usually terminated.
– Then there is usually a plan where you have to take medicines and have contact with outpatient care. But if there is no compulsion, it is up to each individual if they want to maintain contact and take their medications, says Katarina Howner and continues:
– Here we get to think about what kind of society we want. We still protect privacy and autonomy where you have the right to decide over your body and what you want for medicines.
At the same time, there are situations where coercion is also present outside of closed care.
– In some cases, the need for care can be so great and that it doesn’t work that you also have compulsion in outpatient care, but it is in special situations that this applies.
According to Katarina Howner, there are three areas where she sees opportunities for improvement in psychiatry to better catch people who are at risk of developing violent behavior. Hear her describe them in the clip.