Psychologist analyzes the causes of the quadruple murder in Croatia

Domagoj Vidović, Deputy Director of the Vrapče Psychiatric Clinic, commented on the horrific quadruple murder in Vodice on HRT's Dnevnik. He said that human behavior is complicated and complex, and that a whole series of factors lead people to such a horrific act.

The person suspected of committing the murder was found dead.

“When we observe the entire event, we see that affective tension grows in these people, they are full of anger, rage, and negative emotions, and when they resolve the problem that troubles them from their perspective, they release their emotional energy and are left alone with themselves and their misdeed. Then they turn the remaining aggression towards themselves and commit suicide,” said Domagoj Vidović for HRT.

This is not the first such case that has befallen the Šibenik area. When asked if a connection should be sought, Dr. Vidović said that it should be sought on a principled level:

“The cases in question are very different from each other. Perhaps it is also partly coincidence, but it is an area that has been economically lagging behind other parts of Dalmatia for a long time, so we could look for an explanation for a small part of the causes that would lead to the commission of such a serious crime.”

He added that the issue of illegal weapons should concern us:

“Each of us should make an additional effort every day in the fight against violence. The police should pay more attention to removing illegal weapons from the hands of those who are not authorized to possess them. Each of us should fight against violence and build a society in which we accept people, enable them to develop fully, enable children to grow into mentally and physically healthy individuals, and have a society in which there are clear criteria for what is acceptable and what is not.”

When asked if the conditions we have been living in due to the coronavirus for the past year could be a cause, Dr. Vidović said that it is a small drop, a small addition to all the factors that led the person to commit the crime.

“Then we could say that when we emerge from the corona crisis, the number of criminal offenses will decrease, but that will not be the case. Our task as a society is to empower citizens and teach them how to cope more easily and channel their aggressive impulses in a more mature way, and thus we will achieve fewer such acts,” he said.