I get a “dangerous schizophrenic” news story everyday in my news feed.
It finally got to me.
I’m lazy, so I asked Bing’s a.i. for the percentage of schizophrenics that are violent compared with the rest of society. Here’s what it said
According to a study, only about 10% of people with schizophrenia will engage in violence during their lifetime³. However, they are three to four times more likely to act violently compared with the general population³. Another study found that eight per cent of those with schizophrenia alone were violent, compared with 2% of those without mental illness¹. Comorbidity with substance abuse increased this percentage to 30%¹.
Unfortunately there’s truth behind the stigma which depresses me a bit.
I’ve been thinking recently how I’ll have a conversation with my little nieces about my schizophrenia when the time comes. I’m not sure I’m going to sugarcoat it as much as I would have previously.
I was working as a front desk clerk at a hotel (the same hotel where multiple Disney actors technically came and saw me) when an obviously psychotic young man was wandering around. Another, basically higher-ranking, front desk clerk had already informed me about this psychotic young man wandering around, and that she hadn’t bothered him, and knew which room his relatives were staying in.
An older lady approached me, apparently afraid because we had the gall to allow a psychotic person to wander around outside.
I attempted to explain to her that if we leave him alone, I believed he would hurt no one. I was right.
When I had my nervous breakdown and was psychotic for at least 2 months, I just wanted very badly to be left alone. I think that the fear instinct people feel is a wise instinct to simply leave psychotic people alone.
I feel a little for police officers being goaded by well connected old busy-bodies pushing them to interfere with psychotic people.
Empirically, we are 10 times more likely to be a victim of a violent act, than the perpetrator. With that said, I know many schizophrenics can get extremely defensive when pushed. Furthermore, some may be violent to start out with. Either way, I think the important thing we can do, when dealing with these empirical facts, is to show everyone, that while on medication, we can be just as normal as your average joe. I certainly don’t agree with the assumption that many demagogues claim, that is we aren’t worthy of self-defense weapons. That’s both asinine and downright tyrannical.
According to a study, schizophrenic individuals who live in community settings and don’t abuse drugs are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent crimes¹. Victimization rates are very high for people who suffer from schizophrenia². Some indicate that you are five times more likely to be a victim of homicide if you suffer from schizophrenia². Others find that we are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators².
