Depression und Gewalt: Ein Widerspruch?

Depression is one of the leading diseases worldwide. Its symptoms are of great importance for a variety of areas within internal medicine, as patients often pay a visit to their general practitioners first. Although symptoms of depression are observed in both genders, existing peculiarities of the symptoms in men are only insufficiently known or acknowledged. Therefore, we dedicate this article to the concept of male depression, which can be characterized by social withdrawal, irritability or substance abuse. Here, we present practice-related associations between depression and violent behavior, which will be illustrated by two case studies. Of particular relevance is the so-called suicidal-homicidal syndrome, which should make further psychiatric, if not forensic-psychiatric evaluation mandatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]