Why is murder fascinating and why does it matter to mental health professionals?
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Why is murder fascinating and why does it matter to mental health professionals?

Peter Morrall Associate professor in health sociology, School of Healthcare, University of Leeds, England
Karen Worton Clinical lead, children’s services, Leeds Community Healthcare, England
Denis Antony Chair in applied health research, University of Leeds, England

Human violence directed towards other humans causes much harm to individuals, families and friends of victims, communities and whole societies. Despite that harm, violence has a widespread allure. Focusing on murder, the ‘devastation-fascination paradox’ and its relevance to mental health practice is explored in this article. In particular, attention is drawn towards implications for child and adolescent services. Also discussed is the ‘social responsibility’ of all mental health professionals to tackle the problem of violence.

Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2018.e1249

Citation

Morrall P, Worton K, Antony D (2018) Why is murder fascinating and why does it matter to mental health professionals? Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2018.e1249

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

p.a.morrall@leeds.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 23 April 2018

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