Jumping to conclusions re: Mental Illness=Violence

[my2sense]

Shortly after Jared Lee Loughner had been identified as the alleged shooter of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, online sleuths turned up pages of rambling text and videos he had created. A wave of amateur diagnoses soon followed, most of which concluded that Loughner was not so much a political extremist as a man suffering from "paranoid schizophrenia."

<snip>
Seena Fazel is an Oxford University psychiatrist who has led the most extensive scientific studies to date of the links between violence and two of the most serious psychiatric diagnoses—schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, either of which can lead to delusions, hallucinations, or some other loss of contact with reality. Rather than looking at individual cases, or even single studies, Fazel's team analyzed all the scientific findings they could find. As a result, they can say with confidence that psychiatric diagnoses tell us next to nothing about someone's propensity or motive for violence.

A 2009 analysis of nearly 20,000 individuals concluded that increased risk of violence was associated with drug and alcohol problems, regardless of whether the person had schizophrenia. Two similar analyses on bipolar patients showed, along similar lines, that the risk of violent crime is fractionally increased by the illness, while it goes up substantially among those who are dependent on intoxicating substances. In other words, it's likely that some of the people in your local bar are at greater risk of committing murder than your average person with mental illness.

Of course, like the rest of the population, some people with mental illness do become violent, and some may be riskier when they're experiencing delusions and hallucinations. But these infrequent cases do not make "schizophrenia" or "bipolar" a helpful general-purpose explanation for criminal behavior. If that doesn't make sense to you, here's an analogy: Soccer hooligans are much more likely to be violent when they attend a match, but if you tell me that your friend has gone to a soccer match, I'll know nothing about how violent a person he is. Similarly, if you tell me your friend punched someone, the fact that he goes to soccer matches tells me nothing about what caused the confrontation. This puts recent speculation about the Arizona suspect in a distinctly different light: If you found evidence on the Web that Jared Lee Loughner or some other suspected killer was obsessed with soccer or football or hockey and suggested it might be an explanation for his crime, you'd be laughed at. But do the same with "schizophrenia" and people nod in solemn agreement. This is despite the fact that your chance of being murdered by a stranger with schizophrenia is so vanishingly small that a recent study of four Western countries put the figure at one in 14.3 million. To put it in perspective, statistics show you are about three times more likely to be killed by a lightning strike.

<snip>

edited to comply with copyright rules.
source: http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2280619

[snooper2]

1. I've never seen so many online Bill Frists

in my life :rofl:

[cbdo2007]

2. Anyone who shoots 18 people has a serious mental illness....but very, very, very

few people with mental illness shoot people.

[phasma ex machina]

10. A psychopath with a total lack of empathy. nt

[bobbolink]

3. Excellently written, and very important.

Sadly, most people don't want their cherished beliefs rocked.

And that includes "progressives".

I have been repulsed by some of the things that Thom Hartmann has said about this. He is in sad need of some re-education.

[my2sense]

4. Unfortunately - many need to be educated

concerning mental illness. If only we felt the same compassion and urgency re this illness as we do others. SMH

[bobbolink]

6. Its so easy and *fun* to ridicule people as "mentally ill", use wording like the "r" word....

...and ignore homelessness.

Its why some of us have backed off from activism.

We, also, need to look at ourselves and our *own* ignorances.

Fat chance. :(

[Marengo]

18. It's shockingly easy

To convince otherwise progressive people to agree to policies that effectively diminish the mentally ill to second-class citizen status.

[blogslut]

14. For example

I was told the term "schizophrenia" was more of a categorization. A person is classified schizophrenic when they are unable to differentiate between reality and hallucination. In other words, "schizophrenic" is a line of demarcation. As well, a person with bipolor disorder has a personality disorder - a completely different classification of mental illness and therefore, being bipolor does not necessarily mean one suffers from or will suffer a psychotic break.

[Cetacea]

7. We are united in national discrimination

Hartman and just about every other host are making mental illness the scapegoat. It's going to take a century to reverse the stigmatization that the mentally ill are more violent than the healthy, despite studies that prove the opposite.

[bobbolink]

9. And Hartmann and others are making life even harder for those who are LABELED!

Yet, I certainly don't hear any callers calling him out on it.

:nuke:

Its not the first time Hartmann has gotten his "facts" twisted in this manner. He has a real blind spot in this area... kinda makes ya wonder....

[upi402]

11. Thom will glady change his views upon new information

That's the difference with progressives. I never heard what you refer to.

[bobbolink]

12. Not unless he hears from a number of people. I tried.

So, then, here is one you either never heard him say, or you took it as gospel.

Thom has said more than once that "most homeless people are 'mentally ill' "

That is patently false, and he doesn't give any source at all..... because he can't.


So, here is a source for you... according to the 2005 National Mayor's Conference, 16% of homeless people are 'mentally ill'.

SIXTEEN PERCENT

That is far from "most".

He is making life more difficult for people whose lives are already nearly impossible.

Does it matter?

[upi402]

13. Yes, it does matter very much

I'll add my email to yours.

[bobbolink]

17. Thank you. Life is very difficult to those of us struggling in isolation.

[Union Scribe]

5. Rec, important reading.

[Odin2005]

8. K&R

[zippy890]

15. Untreated mental illness, the stats change

The only point I'm making here, if people would take the time and read things that they don't want to, is about undiagnosed mental illness, or certain types of mentally ill who are off their meds.

"There is a very small number of people with schizophrenia who are, indeed, dangerous and do things like this. It's very important to emphasize that the vast majority of people with this disease are not dangerous, and there are certain predictors in terms of who will be dangerous. Past history of violence, substance abuse, both of which are predictors for non-schizophrenics, too. But I've followed schizophrenia for 30 years, and I have never seen one of these high-profile homicides where the fellow hasn't been off his medication when he did it. Being off medication is a clear risk factor for people who have a past history.

..

People like this man, with likely untreated schizophrenia, are responsible for about 10 percent of the homicides in the United States. That means about 1,600 homicides a year.

please read the whole article

http://www.salon.com/news/jared_loughner/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/01/11/jared_loughner_paranoid_schizophrenia_and_why

This is a really important point here. Because people are calling for mental institutions to come back - no no no - its the treatment that is key here, we need as a society to help those come out of the isolation and stigma of having family members who are sick, and not demonize people with an illness that can be treated. We need to make it a national health priority, more research, better treatments, and especially education and outreach at the state level.

Because these programs are getting cut back, we need to reverse that.
And on personal levels, reach out to that family member who has cut themselves off, who has changed, who we think may be engaging in destructive behavior to themselves or others.

I have lived through this in my own life, and as a child growing up. The consequences of untreated severe mental illness is devastating on a family. These families are victims too. we need to try to help people who are isolated and afraid and don't know what to do when a family member becomes ill.

[One_Life_To_Give]

16. False Analogy

Just because people with mental illness don't commit crimes more than the rest of the population. Doesn't mean that people who walk into public area's and start shooting lots of people are not mentally ill.