Violence and Mental Illness: Media Keep Myths Alive

[Cetacea]

In reality, said Wahl, mental illness is a poor predictor of violence, ranking well after these factors: youth, male gender, history of violence, or poverty. Aside from people who abuse substances, people with mental illness commit violent acts at the same rate as nonpatients, and 80 percent to 90 percent of people with mental illness never commit violent acts.

So what has sustained the image of people with mental illness as being dangerous for so long? Both the news and entertainment media share the blame in perpetuating these stereotypes, said Wahl.

"First of all, crime takes a disproportionate amount of news space, and there is a bias toward reporting crimes by people with mental illness," he said. "Crimes connected to mental illness are more likely to lead the news or be on the front page, and there is more multiple, ongoing coverage of crimes involving mentally ill people—arrest, trial, verdict, and sentencing."

The media’s assumption of a link between mental illness and violence is hard to break, especially when the mainstream press repeats falsehoods as if they were certainties, said journalist Phyllis Vine, Ph.D., M.P.H., whose brother has schizophrenia. "This transforms a medical issue into a public safety issue and capitalizes on the fear of violence."


http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/36/9/10

[Taverner]

1. I thought most damage done by the mentally ill was to themselves?

[Cetacea]

2. Too boring and especially boring for tevee

[elocs]

3. "...the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses."

http://www.healthieryou.com/vvmi.html

Research has shown that the vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses.

Public perception has assumed mental illness to be linked with violence. Violent behavior of persons with mental illnesses represents only a minor contribution to all violence crimes. In a recent study by the NIMH Epidemiological Catchment Area Study, it was estimated that 90 percent of persons with current mental illness are not violent.

Recent research reported by the American Psychiatric Association suggests that a small subgroup of people with severe and persistent mental illness is at risk of becoming violent. However, with treatment and taking prescribed medication, these people are no more dangerous than the general population.

Violence against people with mental health problems is a serious issue and a chronic problem for those who experience it. Studies indicate ongoing fear, social isolation, and lack of confidence as a result of violent incidents.

In a Canadian study, verbal/emotional abuse was reported as the kind of violence most commonly experienced by persons with mental illness. It was reported as the worst form of violence experienced, with physical and sexual abuse ranking second and third.

[Forkboy]

4. K&R

[foxfeet]

5. K&R

[pitohui]

6. this is just semantics, people who deliberately hurt other people ARE mentally ill

i will be the first to admit that almost no one who commits a crime meets the LEGAL definition of being mentally ill, that's why you almost never see anyone aquitted by reason of insantiy, the guidelines are too strict

however, in the real world, boots on the floor, the kind of person who deliberately hurts another person IS mentally ill

it is not a "myth" that most violent crime is committed by mentally ill people, rather it's a tautalogy

having a mental illness may be a poor predictor of who commits violent crime, but let's face it, EVERYONE who commits a violent crime has a mental health problem or they wouldn't have committed the violent crime -- just because they are a "nonpatient," which merely means that their mental problems is going untreated, doesn't mean that they are not mentally ill-- you wouldn't consider a, say, undiagnosed diabetic to be healthier than a diagnosed diabetic who is receiving treatment, you understand right away when the body rather than the mind is involved that it would be ridiculously to rank the undiagnosed, untreated sufferer as somehow "healthier" than the person who is receiving some kind of treatment to try to control their disease

the link between mental illness and crime does not come out of thin air, it comes out of people's experiences, nice well-adjusted folks are not the ones who decide that raping, robbing, and killing is the way to go about their day

there is a large population with some kind of mental illness, and only a percentage of them commit violent crimes, however, at the end of the day, that percentage of sociopaths, addicts, abusers, etc. is responsible for 100 percent of violent crime

do you really think a healthy person commits an act of violence except in self defense or defense of family/friends

[TwilightGardener]

7. They're excluding substance abusers from the mentally ill, as well--

which makes no sense to me. Not all substance abusers are mentally ill, but certainly it's a sign that all is not well, emotionally or mentally. And substance abuse is often a factor in violent crime.

[Caliman73]

8. Semantics are important. Language shapes thought

When you say that anyone who commits a violent crime is "mentally ill" you are using the term as a way to explain the underlying cause of the act. The unintended or maybe intended consequence is that individuals who have a diagnosed "syndrome" of mental illness are tarred and become targets of people's fear. We often use words to distance ourselves from people who behave differently than we expect and to keep them away from us. Saying a person is mentally ill is short hand for saying they are dangerous.

Perhaps the article was not clear enough with the point it is trying to make. Can you say that everyone who acts out violently has some kind of mental health issue? Possibly. Clearly people who commit violent acts are not acting with in societal ideals or even norms. However, when we are talking about how we perceive people who have a diagnosis, and display the symptoms and behaviors typical to classic syndromes of mental illness, the vast majority of research shows that they reflect no more violence that people who are not diagnosed with any illness. The problem again is the PERCEPTION of theses individuals by society and that PERCEPTION is encouraged by the media's gross over emphasis on crimes committed by individuals with diagnoses as opposed to people without.

The stigma attached to mental health issues helps to keep people from seeking treatment because people are afraid of being ostracized or treated differently because they are the "scary crazy person".

[Cetacea]

9. Former mental patient sells out venues.

I don't know if this is a good analogy : consider the fact that there are some enormously succesful artists out there who were hospitalized or otherwise treated for depression and other mental illnesses who never get a mention of stated illness in headlines.

[Caliman73]

13. One of the major factors for the privacy laws for psychiatric treatment...

were initially driven by celebrities, politicians, and power brokers not wanting to get tagged with the stigma of having received treatment. Us little people were an afterthought in that respect.

[Cetacea]

12. Good points. Thanks. nt

[depakid]

10. Defense attorneys help with that, too

[Cetacea]

11. True. nt

[pipi_k]

14. It's actually sort of scary for me to think that

most of the violence committed in the world is being done by so-called "mentally healthy" people, you know?


Is Charles Manson a model of mental health? Was Jeffrey Dahmer? John Wayne Gacey? Jack the Ripper? Ted Bundy...Richard Ramirez...David Berkowitz...Timothy McVeigh...the Unabomber...

etc., etc., etc.

I would say that in nearly all cases where someone commits acts of violence, there are underlying issues. Maybe the person isn't certifiably insane, but I wouldn't say he or she is a poster person for good mental health.