Psychiatry Research EG

Only nineteen available Egyptian studies discussed the topic of forensic psychiatry; these studies are still defective and deficient and this subject needs more studies to be done and more to be collected and analyzed. The researches cover the period from 1971-2011 (30 years). Through this period nineteen available studies were done. Most of the studies are present in the last six years. The number of researches is considered insufficient to cover this important subject “Forensic Psychiatry”. Nineteen researches studied the epidemiology, followed by sixteen researches studied the clinical description and thirteen researches on crime description then eight researches studied the etiology. No available researches done on management. The number of researches is insufficient in prevalence, sex distribution, and monthly distribution but researches done on other sociodemographic variables are sufficient as regards the total number of researches. The results showed that number of crimes among mentally ill offenders must be taken into account. Middle age, illiteracy, unemployment or manual work, and low socioeconomic level are important sociodemographic correlates of crime among mentally ill offenders. The available Egyptian studies reported different risk factors to commit crimes; environmental, hereditary, developmental, child abuse, sexual abuse, substance abuse, medical and psychiatric risk factors with too little attention to biological risk factors and its correlation to violence, aggression and crimes. We found that the researches discussed most of psychiatric symptoms and disorders among offenders. The results showed that crime offenders suffered from different psychiatric symptoms. The available researches described the crime incident, victims, and victim - offender’s activity during crime. The results showed that offenders’ behavior displayed at crime may be indicative of an underlying to mental illness. As regards the critical appraisal of the studies, we found that most of the researches neither mention the design of the study nor describe the design of the sample. Only small number of researches statistically calculated the sample size to choose appropriate number of cases. The study population is not well described in many researches. Also, many researches neither mention the time of the study nor the setting of the study. In almost all studies no informed consent is taken. The researches are not preceded by a pilot study to justify the study proper. Limitations of the studies are missed from almost all researches. Otherwise, the title of most of the studies is clear and to the point, the aim of the study is clearly stated, the method of assessment are mentioned, referenced, valid, and reliable. The statistical methods used are mentioned and discussed in some studies. Most of the results are present in a clear way (tables and figures), then the results are compared with other researches either supporting the same findings or establishing other findings with explanations. The recommendations are mentioned in many studies and the general appearance of the studies is good.