The truth about mental illness and violence

Let’s do a quick Google search for synonyms of mental illness and see what we come up with:

Aberrant…Crazed…Looney…Rabid...Unbalanced…Rash…Reckless…
Maniacal…Deranged…Sick-minded…Unsound…

Lions…and tigers…and BEARS…oh MY!

So what is the truth about people with mental illness and violent behavior? Should we be afraid?

The TRUTH is, the propensity of persons with serious mental illnesses to commit violent acts has been the subject of research and debate for over 70 years (Harris & Lurigio, 2007) resulting in findings that will be surprising to the average person who has bought into society’s media-driven and unsubstantiated fear of those who have mental illnesses:

• The vast majority of people with mental health conditions are no more violent than anyone else. (SAMHSA, 2008). “The absolute risk of violence among the mentally ill population is very small…only a small proportion of the violence in our society can be attributed to persons who are mentally ill” (Mulvey, 1994).

• The news media contributes to the stigma of violence and mental illness by what they include and what they exclude (Risser, 2004). The media’s tendency is to sensationalize crime that has allegedly been committed by a person with mental illness and/or to report the assumption that the persons who allegedly committed a crime have a mental illness. The news media scares people into believing that people with mental illness are also violent.

• The majority (72%) of characters with mental illness on TV are portrayed as violent. Movie portrayals of people with mental illnesses as villainous and violent contribute to popular misconceptions (Risser, 2004).

• If a person with a mental illness does commit a violent crime, it’s more likely due to the influence of drugs or alcohol, just as it is in the general population. Research exposes a correlation between violent crime and people who are “dually diagnosed” with a mental illness and a substance abuse problem.

• The best predictors of violence are youth, male gender, substance abuse and history of prior violence, not mental illness (Risser, 2004).

• Those suffering from psychosis such as schizophrenia are more often frightened, confused and despairing than violent.

• The stigma of violence attached to people with mental illness is a leading barrier to safe housing, employment and integration into normal community life (Perese, 2007), essentials to the leading a full and meaningful life.

• People with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of crime: studies have shown that people with mental illness are 11 times more likely to be victims of violent crime than the general population. (Teplin et al, 2005).

The TRUTH is, people with mental illness have been the victims of a fear-based smear campaign that has been going on for generations. The way we as a society seek to fully include people with mental illnesses as productive members of society is a reflection of whether or not we really mean it when we say, “and liberty and justice for all.”

“Although the world is full of suffering…it is also full of overcoming it.”
–Helen Keller

Sources:

Harris, A. & Lurigio, A. (2007). Mental illness and violence: A brief review of research and assessment strategies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 12, 542-551.

Mulvey, E. (1994). Assessing the evidence of a link between mental illness and violence. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 45, 663-668.

Myths and facts of mental illness. What a difference a friend makes. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://whatadifference.samhsa.gov/learn.asp?nav=nav01_1 &content=1_1_mythsfacts.

Perese, E. (2007). Stigma, poverty and victimization: Roadblocks to recovery for individuals with severe mental illness. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurse Association, 13, 285.

Risser, P. (2004). Barriers to self-determination for people who have been identified as having mental illness in western society. In J. Jonikas & J. Cook (Eds.), “We Make the Road by Traveling on It” conference papers from the National Self-Determination and Psychiatric Disability Invitational Conference (pp. 209-230). Chicago, IL: University of Illinois at Chicago

Teplin, L., McClelland, G., Abram, K. & Weiner, D. (2005). Crime victimization of adults with severe mental illness: Comparison with the national crime victimization survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 911-921.