Stalking--a modern manifestation of erotomania?

Stalking is the technical term for the systematic, excessive and sometimes offensive molestation in order to seek personal contact with a target person, mostly of the contrary sex. This phenomenon seems to have increased recently and concerns above all celebrities of several kinds. In some cases, stalking behavior can culminate in acts of violence. However, the pathological fixation onto an often unattainable person is not a modern phenomenon, since it was studied and described under the term erotomania in former centuries. The author presents and discusses the case of a young man, who displayed his stalking behavior exclusively by telephone calls.     

"Atypical theft offender"--a useful diagnostic concept for forensic psychiatry?

The paper presents a case report of a serial but from the social point of view rather inconspicuous theft offender. The motivation of this perpetrator cannot be reduced to a simple money-making-intention. It seems to be of a more complex origin which offers possibilities for a psychological interpretation. On the other hand, this offender does clearly not fulfill the criteria of kleptomania. For such cases, Anglo-American literature offers a new concept named the "atypical theft offender" ATO, witch is outlined and critically discussed by the author.     

A Pragmatic Response to an Unexpected Constraint: Problem Representation in a Complex Humanitarian Emergency

This paper elaborates a model of problem representation first presented by Billings and Hermann (1998) . The foreign policy process begins when decision-makers specify policy goals and identify relevant constraints in response to a perceived problem. Although this initial problem representation often sets the course for subsequent policy, unanticipated constraints can arise that catch decision makers off-guard. Finding themselves in a context they did not anticipate to be in, decision makers may choose to alter their representation of the problem and/or change the course of policy. Billings and Hermann offer one piece of this puzzle by examining how decision makers re-represent problems; this paper provides the second piece by assessing how policies, not representations, change in response to new constraints. A case study of the U.S. response to the Ethiopian famine in the mid 1980s demonstrates that policy does not always follow problem representation.     

White-collar criminals--a homogenous offender population? Reflections on typical and atypical "white-collar criminals"

Little has been written in German scientific literature on the personality structure of white-collar criminals. Often, the relevance of this level of investigation has downright been denied. Conventional psychopathology does not seem to be an appropriate approach to these character problems since there are not only deficits but also competences to be found which are useful while making a professional career. The author points out the inhomogeneity of this offender population and presents a case report of an atypical white-collar criminal. Over and above that, he introduces two psychological concepts which are apt to better describe the peculiarities of these individuals: Machiavellian intelligence is often the core competence when it comes to rising in hierarchies, whereas the newly defined psychopathy concept according to R. D. Hare makes plausible the moral and ethical failure of these offenders in their professional settings.     

On the psychiatric examination of fire-raisers

By far not every fire-raiser suffers from so-called pyromania, i.e. a pathological urge to raise fire. It is indispensable to differentiate between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, whenever a person is accused of arson. The former aims at external gain, such as the sum insured, while the latter tends towards manipulation of internal states. The leading motive may be frustration, fascination, or in rare cases even sexual arousal. The concept of pyromania, as established by French psychiatrist Esquirol, is not a validated one in all parts; today's diagnostic manuals take "pyromania" rather as a special form of a general disorder of impulse control. The author takes a case report to demonstrate the most important issues in evaluating and prognosticating fire raising behavior.     

Neurobiology of excess self-defense use. Case report with summary of neuroscientific principles

"Excess of self-defence", from the forensic-psychiatric point of view, is a hybrid between a crime of passion and a spontaneous retaliation. The Criminal Code puts under threat of penalty exceeding actions of self-defence, but it grants exemption from punishment to a person exceeding the limits in an excusable state of excitement. Going out from a case report, the author elucidates the problem of determining the degree of diminished responsibility. In order to do so, he points out the alternative pathways of affect-driven information-processing in the human central nervous system according to today's neuroscientific state of knowledge.