Biography

Camille Jantzi is a psychiatrist specialized in forensic psychiatry working as assistant to the head of the forensic psychiatry unit of Geneva’s hospital. She has several years of experience in leading psychiatric evaluations for the criminal and civil court. She is also specialized in victimology, which is her favourite subject of research and teaching.

Abstract

The mediatisation of the COVID19 pandemic has created a lot of stress leading sometimes to mental health issues. We present a case of a 30-year-old woman with no history of psychotic disease and no criminal record, who attempted to kill her 7-year-old son during a brief delusional episode in the context of fear of the coronavirus. She watched the news compulsively for several days before locking herself down with her son in a bunker. She tried to kill him so he wouldn’t have to see the entire family dying and she intended to kill herself after that. She was stopped by the police and brought to a psychiatric hospital where she was successfully treated by pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. She was examined by forensic psychiatrists leading to the conclusion that her responsibility was highly diminished, and her reoffending risk was low. We add to the literature that the COVID19 pandemic has been such a stressor for mentally vulnerable people that it could lead to severe psychiatric decompensation and even criminal acts.