I think, however, that this work reflects a traditional bias in the issues that psychiatric research has concerned itself with, focusing on the ill as perpetrators rather than victims. I think the changes that should be made as a result of this research should be a keener focus on individuals with the diagnosis of schizophrenia as victims, including prior to the onset of illness.
So glad to know(not!) that there are psychiatrists intent on pushing the “schizophrenics are evil” line.
This really disturbs me. Before I was on medication I was a victim of a violent crime not the other way around. It bothers me to think that just because I am schizophrenic that I am thought of as a perpetrator rather than a victim.
@metime posted a different study from the States.
From your link:
For instance, most studies show that violent crime is around 2-10 times more common among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia than compared populations (Fazel et al, 2009).
From my post on @metime’s thread:
“A mentally ill individual is 60 to 100 times more likely to be a victim.”
From your link: > However, the absence of any socioeconomic information on the cases or controls is a big problem. We know that there is probably a causal relationship between low socioeconomic status and criminal activity – if anything it is the most widely agreed upon cause!
Violence and schizophrenia was my final project topic for honors abnormal psychology. To sum things up, we are not more violent than normal people, unless illicit drugs or alcohol are in the equation. We are actually by far more often the victims of crime.
I always write about schizophrenia in school when given freedom to choose my own topic. I’m currently working on my thesis about psychotherapy, I cant give details or it will expose my identity (if it gets published, that is). I am interested in psychotherapy because I have been in therapy for almost a decade, since I was 12.
We people with schizophrenia are in fact 3 times more likely to commit a crime while under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol. This holds true for normal people too. I committed a violent crime once (it’s okay, no one was seriously injured) BECAUSE I was on antidepressants and had drank close to 20 shots of liquor. The rest of the time, I was and have been a good guy.
I got an A on that project so I assume that my research was legit. I cited several articles, peer-reviewed APA articles, and the findings were there.
Not like there are any psychologists on this forum to call BS on me though.
Yeah, but when a normal person gets in a bar fight, or shoots someone it’s no big deal. When a schizophrenic cuts someone’s head off on a bus it causes more damage than any statistic can counter.
that’s because of the media- they capitalize on our “insane” behavior and leave out the other things we do. Statistics do count for the general population of people who have schizophrenia, and the results are that we are more often victims than perpetrators.
That’s like looking at what black people do wrong in Memphis without looking at what they do right. That’s like saying “Dr. King doesn’t count, some black kid who killed a rival gang leader in a drive-by shooting represents the population of African Americans in the United States.”
That’s not okay.
Or it is like saying “John Nash doesn’t count, he can take his Nobel Prize and shove it up his ass, Mouse punched someone in the jaw while wasted when he was 19. Oh, and forget whatever else Mouse has done, he still got arrested for assault and belligerence, they sent seven cops. I don’t care if he is cleaned up. What he did is what all people with schizophrenia do every day, so avoid all schizophrenics, do not even say hello to them.”
I find that particularly not-okay.
Statistics do show the truth when done correctly. We are not evil people.
We need more people with schizophrenia to live well and prove that we are not all the same person that makes it onto Fox News by going off meds and killing innocent people.
■■■■ Fox News.
An type in “sandy hook” into google, one of the top suggestions is “sandy hook hoax”.
The problem with everyday society?
They believe ANYTHING that they hear.
So tell the world that a subset of individuals are dangerous, they won’t even need facts or sources. They’ll just flat out believe what they’re told. It’s like they’re delusional, just in a different way.
In a lot of ways ‘normal’ people should be feared because they don’t have the experience we have when it comes to dealing with inner turmoil. A ‘sane’ person would snap, not know what to do or how to deal with irrational thoughts, and end up reacting by exploding in a violent outbursts of violence. Where we know how to deal with turmoil and resort to the usual coping strategies.
I feel kinda like Magneto for saying this, but it is they that should be feared.
I got into many fights when I was young, most of the time I got my ass handed to me as we were outnumbered or I was too young and the adversary was older and bigger. I’ve learned that nothing good can come out of fighting so I stay away from conflicts now. My latest scare was a year ago but I avoided an escalation. I’m not a violent person, in fact I hate violence. When I was a kid there were all these Hollywood movies where people would get into fights without getting a scuff, but it’s not the case in real life, getting beat WILL leave indelible marks on you.
I think I am more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrator, but I’m a big dude, I don’t really know how to fight but I could wrestle someone to the ground and put him in a choke hold if I had to defend myself. All these schizos on the news that commit murders make me wonder why I am put in the same category of mental illness as them, as we most likely have nothing in common… 
Mentally ill as victims.
Abstract
Background
Little is known about the relative extent of crime against people with severe mental illness (SMI).
Aims
To assess the prevalence and impact of crime among people with SMI compared with the general population.
Method
A total of 361 psychiatric patients were interviewed using the national crime survey questionnaire, and findings compared with those from 3138 general population controls participating in the contemporaneous national crime survey.
Results
Past-year crime was experienced by 40% of patients v. 14% of controls (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.8, 95% CI 2.0–3.8); and violent assaults by 19% of patients v. 3% of controls (adjusted OR = 5.3, 95% CI 3.1–8.8). Women with SMI had four-, ten- and four-fold increases in the odds of experiencing domestic, community and sexual violence, respectively. Victims with SMI were more likely to report psychosocial morbidity following violence than victims from the general population.
Conclusions
People with SMI are at greatly increased risk of crime and associated morbidity. Violence prevention policies should be particularly focused on people with SMI.
Royal College of PsychiatristsI’ve never laid a hand on anybody in 35 years of schizophrenia. I’ve been the victim several times though . Most of those times I can chalk up to the fallout of drug use i.e. being and doing things where I had no business being. But I had a 'friend" who turned out to be a violent drunk and terrorized me a couple times. He was a so-called Normie who I never told I was mentally ill but when he started to suspect his reaction was violent. It was scary stuff, the guy went ballistic on me one night, just went out of his mind and basically strong-arm robbed me. And this was supposed to me my friend. This was during my drug days.
It’s both.
Perpertrator and victim.
Like a rabid animal.
It’s quite the shame and unfortunate thing this world.
Apparently, I’m still involved in discussions even when I’m not here. 