ABSTRACT
13 March 2011 started as a quite normal day for J., a 24-year-old man who was living with his parents in a rural area in the South of the Netherlands. J. was diagnosed with schizophrenia of the paranoid type. He received antipsychotic medication for this condition. However, he did not take it on a regular basis. Besides that, he was diagnosed with substance and alcohol abuse. At that time he lit up a cigarette. She argued that he was not allowed to smoke inside. He started cutting her throat, after which she bled to death. J. got out of the house. A day later, the local police authorities arrested him. The case presented above describes the prototypical circumstances under which a person with a psychotic disorder may become severely violent. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the majority of patients suffering from a psychotic disorder would not engage in severe physical violence.
