Violence and aggression in the heat of passion and in cold blood. The Ecs-TC syndrome.

The heat was beginning to scorch my cheeks; beads of sweat were gathering in my eyebrows. It was just the same sort of heat as at my mother’s funeral and I had the same disagreeable sensations—especially in my forehead, where all the veins seemed to be bursting through my skin. I couldn’t stand it any longer . . . I was conscious only of the cymbals of the sun clashing on my skull . . . of the keen blade of light flashing up from [his] knife . . . everything began to reel before my eyes . . . every nerve in my body was a steel spring, and my grip closed on the revolver. The trigger gave. . . . (Camus, 1946, p. 50)