Mentally Ill and Violence

According to Brent Teasdale, assistant professor of criminal justice at Georgia State University, mentally ill individuals experiencing an increase in symptoms are more likely to become victims of violence than they are to commit crimes themselves. Teasdale’s study, “Mental Disorder and Violent Victimization,” was published in the 2009 edition of Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Teasdale looked at data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study of psychiatric patients released from three psychiatric hospitals in different states. During the MacArthur Violence study, participants were interviewed at intervals of 10 weeks for one year about violence committed against them and social relationships.

While stereotypes about the mentally ill persist, the study is important for changing attitudes about who exactly is at risk when a mentally ill person is experiencing an increase in symptoms. In a recent news release, Teasdale said,

“The stereotypes persist because people are unaware of the victimization risk to people with mental illness. If they learned that victimization risk were higher than the violence commission rates, I think that would help alleviate some of that stigma and help people think about people with mental disorders in a different way.”

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