What is a psychological autopsy

The psychological autopsy is a forensic technique designed to establish or specify the causes of a suicide. and, in some cases, to corroborate whether the death of a person actually occurred due to that circumstance. This is a relatively new field that only began to be systematically applied in the 21st century.

The term psychological autopsy was used for the first time in the 1950s, in the works of Shneidman and Farberow.. Edwin S. Shneidman was an American clinical psychologist who dedicated himself to the study of suicidelogy and thanatology. Along with Norman Farberow and Robert Litman, he founded the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center in 1958.

However, Since the 1920s, the concept of psychological autopsy had already been suggested in the United States.. After the era known as the Great Depression, there was a wave of suicides in that country. This type of epidemic caught the attention of many scientists and attempts were made to look for common causes. However, it was only with Shneidman and Farberow that this concept was consolidated.

The psychological autopsy

What is done in a psychological autopsy is an indirect and retrospective reconstruction of life and personality. who died. It is an investigation process that aims to establish the circumstances and reasons that led a person to suicide.

In general terms it has two primary objectives. The first is forensic; the second, of an epidemiological nature. The psychological autopsy is ordered within the framework of a criminal investigation and constitutes a tool to complement the medical-legal autopsy. It is applied almost always in cases where the cause of death is doubtful.

From the epidemiological point of view, this tool aims to collect relevant information to establish expressions of behavior, circumstances, motivations, etc. All this information should be used to establish risk factors common with the aim of preventing or avoiding new suicides.

Although to a lesser extent, This instrument also serves other purposes, such as establishing the legal validity of actions prior to death. (for example, signing documents). Also to evaluate if there were errors in practice, in people who were under medical or psychological treatment; structure psychological profiles and build criminological categories, among others.

Research tools

This type of autopsy It is basically made from three tools: the study of the crime scene, the collection of psychological traces and the interview of people close to the victim. The study of the crime scene gives important clues about the entire case. The chosen method, the arrangement of objects around the body and other similar elements provide valuable information.

The collection of psychological traces has to do with the collection of letters, messages, diaries and all those documents or information that may serve either to establish a psychological profile of the victim or to clarify the circumstances under which his death occurred.

Interviewing people close to the victim also serves the purpose of gathering information. about personality or motivations for suicide. This is one of the most controversial procedures of the psychological autopsy, since it is very difficult to establish the biases or interests that those around the suicidal person may have.

The protocols to follow

There are several protocols for performing a psychological autopsy. However, One of the most used is the MAPI model, created by Dr. Teresita García Pérez. She is the Cuban doctor who gave shape to this method, which has proven to be very practical and functional. It is the most applied in the Hispanic world. The word MAPI refers to the four basic aspects to analyze. These are:

M-Mental. Analyzes cognitive skills and abilities, such as judgment, cognition, intelligence, memory and attention, among others.A-Affective. Look for signs of possible affective disorders, such as depression.P-Psychosocial. Examines the victim’s relationship circles throughout her life.I-Interpersonal. It establishes the way in which the person used to relate to his or her immediate environment.

The protocol indicates that the first thing is to work at the scene, to capture psychological traces.signs and indications of the circumstances of the suicide.

Then a structured interview is carried out with three close people, on 60 dimensions. Such interviews are carried out between one and six months after the events.

Finally, An interdisciplinary analysis is carried out in which the psychologist, the doctor and a criminologist, at least, participate. From this, an expert report is prepared, the nature of which is probabilistic. This establishes the cause of death, based on the NASH code: Natural, Accidental, Suicide or Homicide. Finally, the possible causes of the event are recorded.

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