Making sense of “senseless actions” in relation to criminal insanity
Søren Esben Rytter Heilskov, Julie Nordgaard, Unn Kristin Haukvik, Christine Friestad · 2026
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Description
Søren Esben Rytter Heilskov and colleagues revisit an old idea about acts that seem to make no sense in a 2026 essay on criminal insanity. Courts lean on delusions, stated in words, when judging whether psychosis drove a crime. Yet some disturbed acts are never explained by the person who did them.
The essay returns to psychiatrist Klaus Conrad and his notion of senseless actions in early schizophrenia. A historical case from Karl Wilmanns shows how such acts can mark the slide into open psychosis. The authors argue that these acts reflect a broad break in how a person finds meaning in the world. Judging them fairly needs the person's life story as context, they conclude.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Søren Esben Rytter Heilskov, Julie Nordgaard, Unn Kristin Haukvik, Christine Friestad |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 33 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |