MEDIA ADVISORY
Release No. 00-09
March 27, 2000
Contact: Lynn Schultz-Writsel
202-682-6139
[email protected]
Fax: 202-682-6255
Washington, DC, March 27 -- The American Psychiatric Association (APA), in response to recent and upcoming entertainment television portrayals of violent acts by persons with mental illnesses, advises the following, based on the APA "Fact Sheet: Violence and Mental Illness:"
-- Use of the generic terms "mental illness" and "the mentally ill"--and entertainment television's frequent depiction of mentally ill persons as violent--stereotypes the illnesses and the persons, risking a viewer assumption that all who experience an emotional disorder are equally suspect and dangerous.
-- Only a small subgroup of people with severe and persistent mental illnesses is at risk of becoming violent. Substance abuse substantially increases the risk of violence, with other factors, including neurological impairment (e.g. as a result of head trauma), contributing as well.
-- Persons suffering psychosis--an impairment in reality shown by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or disorganized or catatonic behavior--are no more likely than other patients to commit violent acts.
Paul Appelbaum, M.D., APA Vice President and lead researcher in a new MacArthur risk measurement study on violence and delusions, cautions: "Contrary to popular wisdom, new data shows that the presence of delusions does not predict higher rates of violence among patients, even if the content of their delusions is violent." The study, "Violence and Delusions: Data From the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, published in the April issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, followed 1,136 recently discharged psychiatric patients for one year and concluded that although delusions can precipitate violence in individual cases, data suggest that they do not increase the overall risk of violence in persons with mental illness in the year following discharge.
Dr. Appelbaum added: "Certainly some people with mental illness can commit violent acts, but more than 95% of the violence in our society is perpetrated by people without mental illness. The recent 'ER' portrayal of violence by a patient with schizophrenia and the dramatization of patient violence on the upcoming series premier of 'Wonderland,' raise concerns among psychiatrists and patients. These portrayals show only the bad news about a small minority of persons suffering severe illnesses. They ignore the good news about the vast majority of patients who are not violent, receive treatment and return to healthy, productive lives"
The APA "Fact Sheet: Violence and Mental Illness" is available on-line at http://www.psych.org/public_info/VIOLEN~1.HTM; Dr. Appelbaum's article through APA Fastfax, 1-888-357-7924, document # 6923.
The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society that represents 40,000 psychiatric physicians specializing in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders.
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