Mixed-up Mafia made an offer they can't refuse: therapy

Mafia bosses and their relatives are not "keeping it within the family" but instead heading to a psychiatrist's couch to discuss their problems.

In scenes reminiscent of TV series The Sopranos, mobsters are breaching the code of silence to talk to medical experts, according to a study carried out by experts at Palermo University - on the Mafia's island stronghold of Sicily.

Psychologist Girolamo Lo Verso, who led the study, said: "Psychiatric problems are steadily rising among the families, a sign that the monolithic culture of Mafia society is crumbling."

Dr Lo Verso's research, called The Psychology of Organised Crime in the Mezzogiorno, found clinical anxiety in a fifth of Mafia relatives and personality disorders in almost as many (17 per cent).

The study, which builds on a 2003 book that found rising numbers of bosses taking to the psychiatrist's couch, examined 81 patients - 55 adults, nine teenagers and seven children - in Italy's three main Mafia organisations, Sicily's Cosa Nostra, Campania's Camorra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta.

Dr Lo Verso said: "These people are victims of terrible identity crises because they aren't used to seeing their world view challenged. They're like fundamentalists, but as soon as something happens that brings the security wall down, they have crises.

"That's why they go and see a psychiatrist and many say that they feel a lot better for speaking to someone about their problems."

Which would appear a plot line straight out of The Sopranos - as mobster Tony (James Gandolfini) confided his depression and panic attacks over his "business' to psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Branco)

Dr Lo Verso said that food disorders, anxiety and depression, sexual problems and a sense of inadequacy and shame at failing to live up to macho stereotypes were the most common problems.

He said: "In one real-life case, a homosexual son of a top Trapani boss rebels against his father's code and dares to come out of the closet, causing personal pain and wider clan uproar."

ENDS

MAFIA bosses and their families suffering from anxiety, depression and sexual problems are increasingly seeking help from psychiatrists.

In scenes reminiscent of TV series The Sopranos, gangsters are breaching the code of silence to talk to medical experts, according to a study carried out at Palermo University in the Mafia stronghold of Sicily.

Psychologists said a sense of inadequacy and shame at failing to live up to macho stereotypes was one of the most common causes.

Girolamo Lo Verso, who led the study, said: "Psychiatric problems are steadily rising among the families, a sign that the monolithic culture of Mafia society is crumbling."

Dr Lo Verso's research, called The Psychology of Organised Crime, found clinical anxiety in a fifth of Mafia relatives and personality disorders in almost as many (17 per cent). The study examined 81 patients - 55 adults, nine teenagers and seven children.

Dr Lo Verso said: "These people are victims of terrible identity crises because they aren't used to seeing their world view challenged. They're like fundamentalists, but as soon as something happens that brings the security wall down, they have crises." The findings could be a plot line out of The Sopranos as mobster Tony (James Gandolfini) confides his depression and panic attacks over his "business" to a psychiatrist. Dr Lo Verso said: "In one real-life case, a homosexual son of a top boss rebels against his father's code and dares to come out of the closet, causing personal pain and clan uproar."