Matricide

Matricide, a son or daughter's murder of their mother, is one of the most rare of criminal acts, making up a small percentage of homicides. Theories as to the causes of matricide have arisen in the fields of psychoanalytic theory, family systems theory, and cognitive behavioral theory. Mental illness is often a key component of the matricidal impulse. The crime of matricide receives much media attention due to its shocking nature. Matricide has also appeared in both historical and current literary and popular cultural fictional works, most notably the Ancient Greek tragedy the Oresteia. Some scholars feel that the role of matricide in myth and psychology has been undervalued in patriarchal societies.

Matricide is commonly associated with the mental illness schizophrenia, although not all people who ...