Specific Stimulus-Evoked Violent Action in Psychotic Trigger Reaction: A Seizure-like Imbalance between Frontal Lobe and Limbic Systems?

A recently proposed diagnostic class, psychotic trigger reaction, is deduced from careful clinical studies of eight white men, who upon a very specific trigger stimulus committed murder or attempted to (and in one case also rape). The new class is defined as a sudden ego-alien, motiveless (at least with respect to aggression), motor-wise well organized, violent complex action without emotional concomitants. The action is evoked (not provoked) by an individually unique stimulus within a specific context reviving repeated past traumatic experience. Typically there is no (significant) loss of consciousness and practically full recall. Observed are first-time hallucinations (visual, auditory, tactile, somesthetic, but not olfactory as in temporal lobe epilepsy) and signs of imbalance in the autonomic nervous system (loss of bladder control, ejaculation, profuse sweating, nausea). Only four of these men had previous psychiatric diagnoses (and then various ones) or abnormal EEGs at some time in their lives. Variety in prior diagnoses would be consistent with a seizure-like disorder, here specifically implicating an imbalance in functioning between limbic and frontal lobe systems. Clinical tests for the latter were prevailingly indicative of dysfunctioning. A detailed clinical analysis of the violent acts within their context suggests behaviors are analogous to certain limbic system mechanisms, especially the kindling phenomenon.