Misconceptions, crime and mental health disorders
Misconceptions, crime and mental health disorders | Mental Healthy
By Catherine WalkerIt has, for far too long, been held as some kind of prejudiced fact that there is a link between mental healthdisorders and crime. We read sensationalised headlines about dreadful criminal acts being perpetrated by the mentally ill. These media reports only serve to perpetuate this misconception.
I myself as a journalist have had to cover such stories, and have even found myself using terms that in hindsight were insensitive and could be accused of perpetuating this myth, even though this was never my intention.
When referring to a crime where the perpetrator had a mental illness, it is very easy to define the criminal as his or her diagnosis. For example ‘paranoid schizophrenic kills inmate’ is a headline that is deemed wholly acceptable by most media, however I can now see that running such a headline can be unhelpful. In doing so we are not simply defining two elements of the perpetrator separately, but creating the direct link between diagnosis and crime, as if they were mutually inclusive.
The facts
In 2008 the findings of a UK based study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry which, I feel, dispels the myth that the mentally ill are any more likely to commit offences than any other group of the population. In fact, it demonstrates quite the opposite.
Carried out by researchers from Oxford University’s department of psychology and Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, the study looked at 13 years of date from Sweden. Sweden keeps population data on mental health and crime.
The findings include results which show that people with severe mental illness are responsible for one in 20 violent crimes.
It was also found that 18% of murders and attempted murders were committed by people with a mental illness.
They found that there were 45 violent crimes committed per 1,000 inhabitants. Of these, 2.4 were attributed to patients with severe mental illness, which also includes bipolar disorder and other psychoses.
This demonstrates that 5.2% of all violent crimes over the studied period were committed by people with severe mental illness.
15.7% of arsons were committed by people with such illness as were 7.5 of threats and harassment.
Under 7% of cases of assaulting an officer, 6.3% of aggravated assaults, 5% of sexual offences, 3.6% of robberies and 3% of common assaults were perpetrated by this group.
The forensic psychiatrist who led the research, Dr Seena Fazel, said ‘The figure of one in 20 is probably lower than most people would imagine.’
‘Many see those with serious psychiatric disorders as significantly contributing to the amount of violent crime in society.’
‘In many ways the most interesting aspect of our findings is that 19 out of 20 people committing violent crimes do so without having any severe mental health problems.’ he added.
A spokesman for the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health said ‘Having a severe mental health problem does not make a person violent.’
‘People with conditions like schizophrenia are, in fact, more likely to be the victims of violence than others in the population.’
‘This study shows clearly that people with severe mental health conditions commit a very small proportion of violent crimes and that the widely help prejudices about schizophrenia are inaccurate and unfair.’
‘It is now time to stop this stale debate about mental health and violence and start looking at how to overcome the prejudice and consequent discrimination that stop people with severe mental health conditions from having an ordinary life in our society.’
If we search further we can find other interesting and relevant information about the relationship between crime and mental health disorders.
On the schizophrenia.com website the facts about this subject are very insightful. In America approximately 200,000 individuals with schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness are homeless. This figure constitutes one-third of the total homeless population based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services. These 200,000 individuals comprise more than the entire population of many large US cities.
At any given time there are more people with untreated severe psychiatric illnesses living on America’s streets than are receiving care in hospitals.
People with schizophrenia are far more likely to harm themselves than be violent towards the public.
Violence is not a symptom of schizophrenia.
Just because at times those who commit violent crimes also have a mental illness, this does not make the two elements related. Just as we may find a violent criminal is also a diabetic, or asthmatic, it would be very wrong to assume that the one contributed to the other, we must also pay the same respect to mental illness.
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Official launch of NAViGO Health and Social Care Community Interest Company
Stress tops list of employer health concerns – People Management Magazine Online
Stress tops list of employer health concerns
But UK employers less likely than others to have wellness strategyStress is still the number one concern of UK employers when considering the health of their employees, research has shown.
The global survey of 1200 organisations by Buck Consultants found that 72 per cent of UK respondents said they were very concerned about stress in their workforce as part of their health strategy, beating other health risk factors such as a lack of exercise (60 per cent) and nutrition (58 per cent). It is the second year that stress has topped the poll, as economic difficulties weigh heavily on mental health for workers.
But the survey also showed that UK employers lag behind their international counterparts in tackling health issues. Only 57 per cent of UK respondents have a wellness strategy in place, compared to an international average of 66 per cent. Moreover, only 19 per cent said they had fully implemented such a strategy, with others making only partial progress. The USA was the most health-conscious of the 47 countries studied, with 74 per cent of employers having a wellness programme.
“Workforce stress levels are at the forefront of U.K. employers’ minds. At the same time, we see a rise in employers’ recognition of the benefits of a workplace wellness strategy and their increasing appetite to implement one,” said Mike Tyler, UK MD of health and productivity at Buck Consultants. “We see room for improvement in measuring the effectiveness of a wellness strategy in order to identify the particular challenges each employer will face. Organisations that measure the impact of their workplace wellness strategy are more successful at improving their employees’ health, thereby impacting productivity, absence and engagement. However, we recognise that many employers simply don’t know how to measure their results or they don’t have the resources to do so.”
The most common tools currently used as part of employer health programmes are discounted gym membership (68 per cent), flexible working and parental support (60 per cent), cycle to work programmes (58 per cent), immunisations (54 per cent) and sponsored sports teams (51 per cent). Less frequently used tactics are health food vending machines (21 per cent), on-site physiotherapists (26 per cent) and personal health coaching (18 per cent).
Buck Consultants – which is a Xerox company – conducted its survey with Pfizer, CIGNA, Wolf Kirsten International Health Consulting and WorldatWork
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