Domestic violence is a problem of major proportions in the United States. The majority of studies pertaining to the etiology of domestic violence have focused on psychosocial parameters and given little emphasis to biological factors. During the past year we have worked to analyze data and publish our findings. Our first publication (Biol Psychiatry 2000;47;804-12) showed that perpetrators evidenced more lactate-induced fear, panic, and rage than non-violent controls. These results lead us to conclude that some perpetrators of domestic violence have an exaggerated fear-related rage response to perceived threats. Our second publication (Psychiatry Res 2001;104(1):27-37) found that compared to controls, alcoholic perpetrators (ALC PERP) had significantly higher CSF testosterone concentrations, and non-ALC PERP had significantly lower CSF concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). As stated in last year's report, these findings lead to the following conclusions: 1) there may be biological differences between perpetrators with and without alcoholism and 2) both low serotonin and high testosterone may have a role in facilitating the fear-related aggression displayed by perpetrators. The findings of a third manuscript that was accepted for publcation (J Psychophysiology) reports that the strong association between respiratory sinus arrhythmia and heart rate that was present in controls was not present in the domestic violence perpetrators. This suggests that perpetrators may have a disturbance in their autonomic function. We have continued to analyze data obtained from our previous PET imagining and yohimbine infusion studies in an attempt to charaterize perpetrators of domestic violence. We plan to submit manuscripts reporting our findings in the coming year.
