Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
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Monday, September 06, 2010

A look at violence and the mentally ill

Bipolar disorder 'not to blame for violent behaviour'
Good news: Those with mental illness, including bipolar disorder, are no more likely to be violent than the general population, despite public perceptions otherwise.
Bad news: In cases of violence, substance abuse is the main contributing factor, a factor that those with mental illness tend to be at risk for.
Good news: The rate of violence between substance abusers, whether mentally ill or not, is basically the same.

Or so went my reading of this article. A similar study came to the same conclusion regarding schizophrenia. Both bipolar disorder (in some instances, although not generally) and schizophrenia can produce psychotic episodes (losing touch with reality, hearing voices, etc.).

But I thought these two quotes were quite appropriate:
Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said the research would reassure people with severe illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

"The link between mental illness and violence is often grossly exaggerated when in fact people with mental health problems are far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

"This kind of stigma damages lives," he said.

The charity Sane said it was "surprised" the research appeared to overlook the "realities of severe mental illness".

Its chief executive Marjorie Wallace said: "We accept that alcohol and drug abuse can exacerbate the more acute symptoms and that such abuse is more widely responsible for criminal acts.

"We also accept that the majority of people with mental illness are never violent and the chances of a member of the public being attacked at random extremely rare.

"However, we do not believe it is helpful to underplay the extreme pain, paranoia and denial of symptoms such as command voices which those with psychosis can experience and which may trigger damaging behaviour."
Not that I thought I was going to run out whacking on people like they were zombies just because I'm bipolar. :)

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