The destructive jealousy; Othello Syndrome

At the resumption of the preliminary hearing of the trial of Dr Andrew, the prosecuting counsel presents all his evidence to prove the murder case against the defendant Dr Andrew. He was alleged to have murdered his wife during an argument after he awoke from a nap in the living room. He stabbed his wife several times at the chest before their 8 years old son who was profusely wailing. It was him that raised the alarm when he saw that his mother could no longer move on the ground where she slumped, she was in the pool of her own blood.

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The prosecutor presented a DNA report, fingerprints, the knife used, Dr Andrew shoe that he wore on the day the crime was committed, his blood socked blue round neck shirt too. With all the evidence presented and admitted by the court, the prosecutor was ready for the case. He presented two eyewitnesses who were earlier subpoenaed.

With all the evidence tendered and submitted by the prosecutor, and the two eyewitnesses presented by the prosecutor, he rests his case .Dr Andrew lawyer took the ground to open his defence. In the defence submission, he argued that his client was not in the right state of mind. He claimed that Dr Andrew was suffering from t psychotic disorder which has been confirmed by several medical reports. He claimed that Dr Andrew really loved his wife, but that he was just a sick fellow who needed to be attended to in other to prevent the reoccurrence of what happened in his home. The defending counsel asked the judge if he could present an expert witness to come to the witness box. This was quickly objected by the prosecuting counsel, but the judge overruled the objection and asked the defence counsel to present the expert witness.

The expert witness who happens to be a psychologist came to the box, swore to an oath and thereafter the defence counsel began to examine him. He asked him to explain to the court the medical condition of Dr Andrew, and if his condition could have put people close to him in danger.

The expert witness said the condition of Dr Andrew is what is known as Pathological jealousy which is also referred to as Othello syndrome. On mentioning Othello syndrome, the judge shifted his attention from the witness and gave a cursory look at the accused where he was sitting calm without any sign of trepidation. He adjusted his eyeglasses and turned to look at the witness again. The witness continued. He said pathological jealousy is a psychological disorder which makes the person suffering from such disorder to suspect his or her partner of infidelity. He said the person suffering from such will be mostly preoccupied with the thought that they are being cheated by their partner, although without any real evidence to back up their suspicion. He said the suspicion is always accompanied by aggression and generally behaviour not socially acceptable. The witness further said that such people are always obsessive and delusional. He further said that the disorder is a psychiatric condition which can also be associated with schizophrenia. The expert witness further delves into science by relating the condition to some other neurological disorders such as brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, normal pressure hydrocephalus, pathogno-monic of alcoholism and right orbitofrontal excision. At this point, the judge could no longer swallow all the medical jargons of the psychologist. The judge asked him to tell them which of the condition is related to the case in the court.

The witness then said that Dr Andrew had suffered right orbitofrontal excision about twenty years earlier, and his wife knew about the condition. He explained further to the court what an orbitofrontal cortex mean with a Magnetic Resonance Image in his hand.

The MRI of orbitofrontal cortex . Public Domain commons wikimedia

He pointed out that the green part of the image is where the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is located in the brain. He said the function might be complicated if he should start explaining, but in a simple language, it is responsible for cognitive process where a decision will have to be made, and in guiding ones emotion. It also allows for coordinating information which have emotional value because of its wide connection to the prefontal regions. He said the consequence of any damage to that part of the brain is really dangerous as the emotion of such an individual will lack proper guiding.

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According to the medical report presented to the court by the defence counsel, Lesion of the orbitofrontal cortex of Dr Andrew lead to the excision of that damaged part of the brain which has since then affected his sense of judgement and left him emotionally imbalanced. He has since then lost cognitive control.

The judge was in a fix. Here are undeniable evidence pointing at the accused, no doubt about that. The DNA and the fingerprints of the accused on the knife stained with the blood of the victim all over the crime scene was a clear indication that the crime was committed by him. Also, here is a medical report showing that he might not be in the right state of mind when the crime was committed. The judge, however, asks the witness to further elaborate on the othello syndrome.

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The witness explained that the syndrome which was first named in 1951 by a Psychiatrist with the name John Todd is a dangerous psychosis and was traced to a character named Othello in a William Shakespeare novel. The character murdered his wife on suspicion of infidelity. The person suffering from such disorder is known to always stalk their partner. For instance, they monitor their partner's phone calls, their social media accounts, separate their spouse from family and friends, they do not trust their spouse behaviour, and become very aggressive when they spot their spouse with the opposite sex. The witness explains the different forms of othello syndromes as follow.

• Obsession Those who suffer from this form see their own thought as egodystonic( not sensible and should be discarded, excessive and such thought are intrusive). They try to resist such overwhelming thought by monitoring or checking their partner activities. They don't want to entertain such jealous thought trying to occupy their mind. In other word, they try to overcome the compulsive thought over their mind.

• Extreme Obsession In this form of the syndrome, the patient is highly overwhelmed with jealous thought, though they try to fight the thought. In trying to do so, they may limit the freedom of their spouse, monitor their spouse behaviour or even break the relationship. In this form, it is hard to make difference between neurotic jealousy and psychotic

• Delusions The individual suffering from this form of the syndrome believes his own thought. The thoughts are assumed to be true. Some of the assumptions may include the suspicion that he might be poisoned, or be given substances to reduce his sexual performance by his spouse. The delusion also includes the following imagination; that the spouse is infected with sexually transmitted infections from another person and that the spouse was having sexual intercourse with another fellow while he (The patient) is asleep.

This last form of the syndrome is the cause of the case at hand in the court.

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Jealousy and attachment file. Showing the difference between male and female.commons wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0

The percentage of Othello syndrome also known as morbid jealousy, delusional jealousy among psychiatric in-patients is 1.1%, while 7% of neurobiological mental disorders patients suffer from this disorder. A report indicated that Othello syndrome is prevent among men more than women. While another report indicated that the ratio of the syndrome in female psychiatric patients to male is 2:1. Though one can not conclude that men are more jealous than women, the report so far available had shown that more men suffer from this syndrome than women and it is even more dangerous with men with homicidal and subsequent suicidal cases too. Many of gender violence against women at home have been traced to this syndrome though not all. The individual suffering from the disorder tends to attack their spouse and even the presumed third party. The syndrome is also connected with dementia.

Treatment

Below are the treatments for the syndrome as found in the literature.

Treatment of the primary psychiatric condition
Antipsychotic medication
Antidepressant medication
Psychological
Psycho education for the affected person and the partner
Behavioural therapy
Cognitive therapy
Individual psychotherapy
Insight oriented psychotherapies
Family therapy
Couple therapySource

Epilogue

After both the defence and the prosecution counsels have presented their evidence, they both made their closing argument. The judge ruled in favour of the defence. He asked that the accused be made to undergo several therapy and medications that will help him overcome his condition he also ruled that their eight-year-old son be taken away from him and be taken care of by a family. He ruled that the crime was not premeditated and can not be categorised as a murder case the way the prosecution wanted it.