Morbid Jealousy and Murder

tresses were unfaithful to them. As murderers go, they were an elderly group, of average age 474 years. Unlike ordinary, jealous lovers, their attacks were nearly always upon wives, rather than upon supposed rivals. The latter, being imaginary, could never be caught in the act and were only hazily identified. As with most deluded patients, these murderers seemed driven by emotional necessity to misinterpret inconsequential happenings as evidence supporting their beliefs. They were singularly unwilling to give up their supposedly treacherous mates. Twenty-nine per cent attempted suicide after the crime, and ten per cent had a history of previous suicidal attempts. Most of the patients retained their delusions years after the crime. In a small minority, the illness remained a monomania, without gross disturbance