There is a false belief among many in society that a person with a mental illness is more likely to be violent. Think of the television shows and movies where the homicidal maniac is depicted as some sort of nut case and the potential to feed into a false belief is fed.
This false idea is just a piece in fighting stigma when it concerns mental illness. The following article address the topic in a brief yet concise way. Hopefully you will find it to be helpful. By no means is it an exhaustive treatment of the topic. Allan
On Monday October 26, 2009, a psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston was seriously assaulted by a patient in one of the hospital’s psychiatric outpatient clinics. Are people with mental illness more violent? Incidents such as this one, while infrequent, are sensational and spread like a viral communication that raises the spectre of dangerous “mental patients” lurking and endangering us all.
In fact, people with mental illness are not more dangerous than the general population –unless they are abusing alcohol or drugs and they have untreated serious mental illness. They are far more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators, at a rate 11 times higher than the general population.
When violence bursts onto the public stage and involves a person with a mental illness it seems to evoke a particular and often uninformed response calling for more restrictive treatment of people with mental illness, generally by demanding more and longer psychiatric hospitalizations or greater use of involuntary interventions like outpatient commitment and medication over objection (both court ordered means by which a person must comply with treatment). But research has given us other options.
Mental illness alone is not a major driver of violent crime. Research findings indicate that the risk of violence is increased among individuals with serious mental illness when they are not receiving adequate mental health treatment – and the risk is considerably greater in these individuals when they are actively drinking and abusing drugs. The implication is clear: by better identifying mental illness, engaging and retaining these individuals in quality treatment, and ensuring that care is coordinated and collaborative among all caregivers, for both mental and substance disorders, we will achieve the greatest impact on improving the safety of our communities as well as improving the lives of those with these illnesses, and their families.
Individuals with mental illness who are apt to be violent (or become victimized) almost always telegraph their problems for months, if not longer, with growing symptoms, appearing in emergency rooms and hospitals, and driving their families to distraction – with the families seldom having a responsive place to turn. Fragmentation, lack of coordination, and too often limited accountability of mental health services too often disappoint families and deny people with mental illness the services they need to control their illness, and reduce their risk of dangerousness.
Effective psychiatric treatments, the science of psychiatry, are often far from what actually happens in everyday practice: this is the gap between what we know and what we do. But solutions exist to improve the quality of care that will benefit people with mental illness. We can screen and detect in medical and mental health settings the presence of alcohol and drug abuse and provide effective treatments for people with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. We can identify individuals with serious mental illness and substance abuse and reach out to them when they fail to fill their medication prescriptions or do not show for appointments or when they illness worsens and they appear in emergency rooms or crisis services. We can do a lot better making families a part of treatment since they are essential allies in care and invaluable supports to their loved ones. We can create quality standards that call for coordination among hospitals, clinics and other mental health care programs in the community, and make these standards a requirement for licensure. We can help train police dispatchers and police officers to recognize when a person is mentally ill and how best to manage a crisis moment.
Tragic moments such as the one created by the incident at MGH are also propitious for advocacy and action. There are no better moments to make the case for quality treatment responsibly delivered – for closing the gap between what we know and what we do.
Filed under: Bipolar Disorder, Christian Counseling, Christianity, Depression, Mental Illness, Psychotherapy, Schizophrenia
……and I have never understood why that stigma exists, either. I ‘ve always thought that “violent” mental illness tended to be the minority, that the mentally ill who actually attack others are in much smaller number than those that don’t. So, where does this false notion come from? As mentioned above, it has to be the media. And the major problem with that is, then ALL mentally ill tend to be viewed as a threat to society, instead of in need of help.
“In fact, people with mental illness are not more dangerous than the general population –unless they are abusing alcohol or drugs and they have untreated serious mental illness. They are far more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators, at a rate 11 times higher than the general population.”
This speaks volumes to me…….people with mental illness are actually victims inside their own selves, and actually have a medical condition. Who would be afraid of someone with diabetes? Cancer? But “label” someone as mentally ill, and people shy away, afraid of what might happen next………..and when someone with such a mental condition does get to the point of violence, are they treated with the same concern and care as a heart attack victim? Or a diabetic coma? Both of these medical extremes occur when proper care has not been practiced – so why can’t the same attitude of compassion apply to the other?
just my ramblings, on a very potent article…….
Owen, Stigma can seem like such an impossible hurdle at times. Thankfully there are people who are waging a good fight to break down those ideas that permeate our society. It’s not an area that misinformed believers corner the market on by any stretch.
The “Minds On The Edge” program took pains to walk us slowly through the United States mental health system to show us where things have broken down. They then offered alternatives that were less expensive and would produce much better results in meeting the needs of those who have a mental illness and get lost in the system.
That special can be viewed here.
http://www.mindsontheedge.org/watch/fullprogram/
Thanks for sharing.
Ah, that’s what it was called!! I was racking my brain trying to refer to that video – we both watched it, we both were shocked to hear what we heard.
I was remembering that video while writing my comment, but couldn’t remember where I had seen the video or what it was called. (I’m getting older, my mind is evasive sometimes!)