ABSTRACT
In 1979, Brown, Goodwin, Ballenger, Goyer, and Major studied cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from a group of patients with personality disorder and found a statistically significant inverse relationship between their life history of aggression scores and the serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA). A similar study by Brown et al. (1982) focused on the specific diagnostic group of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and replicated the findings of the earlier study with respect to CSF 5-HIAA and life history of aggression scores. Linnoila et al. (1983) used frequency scoring in a group of 36 character disorders who had killed or attempted to kill and found that offenders with more than one violent crime had lower average CSF 5-HIAA than offenders with only one. There was also a significantly lower average CSF 5-HIAA in personality disorders grouped as impulsive (i.e., explosive or antisocial) compared to personality disorders grouped as nonimpulsive (i.e., passive–aggressive). In another study of criminal offenders, Virkkunen, Nuutila, Goodwin, and Linnoila (1987) reported that arsonists had significantly lower CSF 5-HIAA than a group of violent offenders and that both were significantly lower than a group of normal controls. Roy and Linnoila (1988) examined CSF 5-HIAA in a group of 17 normal controls and found a significant negative correlation with the urge to act out hostility subscale of the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire.
