Psychiatric Considerations on Infanticide: Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater.

Background: Infanticide is not a new concept. It is often confused with child murder, neonaticide, filicide or even genderside. Each of these concepts has to be defined clearly in order to be understood. Through time reasons for infanticide have evolved depending on multiple factors such as culture, religion, beliefs system, or attempts to control the population. It was once seen as a moral virtue. So what has changed?

Subjects And Methods: Between January 2020 and May 2020, a literature search based on electronic bibliographic databases as well as other sources of information (grey literature) was conducted in order to investigate the most recent data on infanticide and child murder, especially the newest socio-economic and psychiatric considerations as well as the different reasons why a mother or a father ends up killing their own child and the Irish situation.

Results: Recent works on the subject demonstrate how some new socio economic factors and family considerations impact on infanticide. Mental illness, especially depression and psychosis, is often part of the picture and represent a very high risk factor to commit infanticide and filicide. Fathers and mothers do not proceed the same way nor for the same reasons when they kill their offspring. Neonaticide and infanticide are almost always committed by women. A recent case in Ireland (2020) proves how filicide remains an actual problem.

Conclusions: Filicide is a relatively rare event, and therefore particularly impact both the public and the press when it occurs. Infanticide does not result from a unique cause, but from multiple factors (some being well known, some remaining hypothetical). Psychopathological and socio-economical parameters associated to peculiar family grounds are currently prevalent. To help and prevent infanticide, screening for psychiatric disorders and risk factors and treating or offering assistance to parents at risk should be implemented.