Psychiatry’s Susan Hatters-Friedman highlights stress, substance abuse and mental illness in filicide cases

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A&E: Susan Hatters-Friedman, the Phillip J. Resnick Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the CWRU School of Medicine and an adjunct professor at the School of Law, said filicide is rare and most often involves fatal maltreatment. Parents who kill children may be under significant stress and have limited resources, with substance abuse and mental illness sometimes contributing. However, she notes these risk factors are often identified only retrospectively.