Also, if you are going to date someone with a mental illness (or any illness) make sure you have accepted that they might not get better for a very long time, if ever.
Do not enter the relationship thinking that you can fix them or that they will be fine in a few months. Never do that.
Movies really give us a false sense of what happens in these cases.
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» Study: People With Mental Illness Are Five Times More Likely to Be Murdered
In the wake of highly-publicized acts of violence perpetrated by mentally ill individuals, many have found it necessary to emphasize that such events are incredibly rare. On the population level, mental illness is in fact exceedingly common, yet people with mental illness are responsible for only 5 to 10 percent of violent crimes.
They are also nearly five more likely to be the victim of murder, according to a new study in BMJ.
American and Swedish researchers were among the first to examine the murder rate among the mentally ill, evaluating a cohort of over 7 million Swedish adults over a period of seven years.
They found that the risk of being murdered was highest, at nine-fold, for people with substance use disorders, a number that may of course be subject to confounding lifestyle variables. But it was also increased for people with other mental illnesses in a way that couldn’t be explained by substance use.
Those with diagnosed personality disorders, for example, had a 3.2 times increased risk of being a victim of murder. For depression, the risk was increased by a factor of 2.6, for anxiety disorders, 2.2, and for schizophrenia, 1.8.
These numbers represent overall risk. Unmarried males with low socioeconomic status were particularly likely to be victimized; they were also at a heightened risk for suicide or accidental death, as previous studies have already established.
Substance abuse treatment, obviously, could help reduce the chance of mentally ill individuals becoming victim to violence. So too, say the authors, could improved housing and financial stability — those with mental disorders are more likely to live in high deprivation neighborhoods, a factor which they believe contributed to their findings. And among the general public, “feelings of uneasiness, fear, and a desire for social distance [from people with mental illness] are common and may increase the risk of victimization,” they write.
The authors also point out that the U.S. has a much higher homicide rate than Sweden’s, and that Americans with severe mental illness are four times more likely than others to be non-fatally victimized. While no research currently exists on the murder rate for this population, it is unlikely to be much different than what was found in this study, and is perhaps even higher.
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"After controlling for family hardships that might also make these mental health issues more likely, the researchers found distinct patterns of psychiatric problems that distinguished the bullies from their victims. Victims of bullying were nearly three times as likely to have issues with generalized anxiety as those who were not bullied, and 4.6 times as likely to suffer from panic attacks, or agoraphobia, in which they felt trapped or had no escape, compared to those who were spared bullying. Bullies themselves showed a four times higher risk of antisocial personality disorder as adults compared to those who did not bully others, and children who reported being both bullies and victims seemed to fare the worst of all; these participants showed a nearly five times greater risk of depression as young adults compared to those who had not both given and received bullying behavior, and a 14.5 times greater risk of having a panic disorder. These effects also showed some gender differences; women had a dramatically higher risk, at nearly 27 times, of having agoraphobia, while men showed an 18.5 times greater prevalence of suicidal tendencies."
Lasting Legacy of Childhood Bullying: Psychiatric Problems In Adulthood | TIME.com
What was that about sticks and stones?
(via brute-reason)
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Mental illness isn’t a fucking contest of who’s got it worse if you’re depressed and then you go and tell someone also suffering from depression that their reasons aren’t good enough or they haven’t been dealing with it for long enough you need to go and sit in the fucking corner like the petty 5-year-old you are
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"This depression and anxiety thing isn’t temporary. It’s not going to disappear when I hit a certain age, or achieve certain career milestones, or get a really great deep-conditioning treatment. I can keep it at a manageable level with the help of drugs and therapy, but I can’t cure it or wish it away. Diabetics don’t just happily toss away their insulin once they’ve followed a successful course of treatment for a few years. Why should it be any different for folks whose chronic conditions are of the mental rather than the physical variety?"
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Why do ableds think brain fog is funny?
My mind is literally deteriorating. Mental illness crashed into neurological issues and then both were T-boned by an endless stream of medications.
When I’m playing a game, and I have no idea whose turn it is, ever, and that’s not funny. Stop fucking laughing.
When I have a low-alcohol beverage, like a small mimosa, don’t blame my confusion on being drunk. Stop fucking laughing.
When I frantically search for my ECG transmitter, only to realize it was in my hand the whole time, it isn’t funny. Stop fucking laughing.
When I take 30 seconds to read a clock, partly because of my amblyopia worsening, and partly because I just can’t keep the numbers straight in my head, it’s not cute to compare me to a kid just learning. Stop fucking laughing.
I always seem a little dazed anymore. Like I was woken in the middle of the night and asked how many pieces of pie are leftover. ”Uh…what? There’s pie? Oh…yeah. Some…I don’t know, I have to count.”
Stop. Fucking. Laughing.
This is why I write. Because when I write, I can take a bunch of breaks, I can clear up foggy writing, I can make some fucking sense. In the real world I’m a fucking mess, and everyone outside of my partner and daughter seems to just think this is fucking hilarious.
It’s not.
Stop. Fucking. Laughing.
They have no idea what it’s like.
No idea what it feels like.
No idea how scary it can be on the inside.
We’re so so happy that you find our illness hilarious.
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“I kind of hate that spoons thing. It’s seems so defeatist to me” says the one who doesn’t struggle with constant fatigue or mental illness. Thanks for your fucking opinion.
Ugh. And when I found the spoons thing I realized that I finally had a way to understand and describe what life was like.
It’s a succint and simple way to describe your capacity for things at any given time, like
what isn’t great about it, it’s brilliant.
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» For the Last Time, Stop Conflating Violence and Mental Illness - By S.E. Smith
A lot of conversations are being had in the wake of the horrific shooting that occurred in Connecticut last Friday, when a gunman took the lives of 20 innocent children and seven adults. The United States is having some hard discussions right now, in a year of awful mass shootings and a period of particular tension.
As always in cases of rampage violence, mental illness has been dragged into the mix, and I’ve been watching the Internet for the last three days with a growing sense of both deja vu and horror. None of the things being said are new — all of them are in fact very bone-achingly familiar — and all of them are extremely unhelpful, dangerous and counterproductive.
There are a lot of things I want to say about the artificial linkage between mental illness and violence; it’s a huge subject. But more than that, I want to drill into some of the specific things that have been circulating this weekend, and why they are wrong.
ON VIOLENCE AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Let’s talk about violence and mental illness for a moment, though, because everyone seems to believe that mentally ill people are inherently violent and dangerous, and that only “crazy” people can commit crimes like this. Gunmen in rampage killings like these do indeed tend to fit a profile — one of loner white men who feel disaffected. Some have indeed been in treatment for mental illness at some point, but being mentally ill — even severely mentally ill — doesn’t predispose you to violence.
A lot of anecdotes have been circulating about mental illness — something that affects an estimated 25% of the adult population at any given time — this weekend. The plural of anecdotes, however, is not data. So here’s some hard data on the facts behind mental illness and violence, courtesy of a large number of scientific studies conducted in rigorous conditions and peer-reviewed to determine their applicability, validity, and usefulness.
“The vast majority of people who are violent do not suffer from mental illnesses,” says the American Psychiatric Association. Substance abuse is a much bigger risk factor for violent behavior; in people with untreated mental illness (a shockingly large number due to the difficulty involved in accessing services), drug abuse is a confounding factor in acts of violence in many cases, not the underlying mental illness. Socioeconomic status, age, gender and history of violence are also more significant indicators of the risk of violence. In fact, mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of violence:
Despite widespread public fears of dangerous psychotic patients, individuals suffering from severe mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of violence. One study revealed that they experienced violent victimization at four times the rate of the general population. In another study, 25% of those with severe mental illness were victims of violence as compared to only 3% of the general population. (Source.)
Your likelihood of being hit by lightning is more probable than that of being killed by someone with schizophrenia, a commonly demonized mental illness. In fact, “violence in the community could be reduced by less than five percent if major mental disorders could be eliminated.”
Each time an incident like this occurs and distancing language blaming it on mental illness and refusing to engage with other social factors is used, society pulls further away from mentally ill people. A study in Germany showed that levels of social acceptance for mentally ill people don’t go back to normal after such events. In other words, the stigma faced by mentally ill people increases every single time there’s a horrific event blamed on mental illness circulating in the public consciousness.
AUTISM AND VIOLENCE
There’s also been a great deal of misinformation circulating about autism spectrum disorders and violence in the wake of speculation about whether the suspected killer might have been on the spectrum. It’s important to note that, one, autism and mental illness are two very different thingsalthough comorbidities certainly do occur, and, two, autistic people are not any more inherently violent than mentally ill people. Or anyone else, for that matter.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network notes in a response to the speculationthat:
Autistic Americans and individuals with other disabilities are no more likely to commit violent crime than non-disabled people. In fact, people with disabilities of all kinds, including autism, are vastly more likely to be the victims of violent crime than the perpetrators. Should the shooter in today’s shooting prove to in fact be diagnosed on the autism spectrum or with another disability, the millions of Americans with disabilities should be no more implicated in his actions than the non-disabled population is responsible for those of non-disabled shooters.
While some autistic people can experience reactive outbursts, these arevery different from methodically planned and executed violence. Anautistic meltdown is nowhere near the rampage violence exhibited by the killer in this case, and the false linkage between autism and violence perpetuates dangerous stereotypes about autistic people.
RAMPAGE KILLINGS AND MENTAL ILLNESS
Most people want to assert that “no sane person” would commit a crime like this; that’s simply not true. Even the much-touted story from “Mother Jones” (which I’ll be getting to in a moment) about mental illness and rampage violence could only come up with “signs of mental health problems” in 38 of 61 killers. As Kate Harding put it on Twitter, “That’s 23 perfectly sane killers U.S. needs to own.”
And what about that “Mother Jones” piece? With such unclear methodology and no information about how the data were gathered, what kind of criteria were used, and who evaluated the information, that 38/61 number is largely useless. This is the kind of misinformation that’s being circulated about mental illness — and people accept it because it affirms what they already believe about mental illness, which is that it’s inherently dangerous and evil.
And what about that very widely circulated “I am Adam Lanza’s mother” piece, in which a woman compares her son to a cold-blooded murderer in ahorrifically objectifying and deeply disturbing piece dangerously conflating mental illness and violence? This is not, as some people are trying to claim, a standalone narrative about one woman’s experiences; it is a statement piece being made at a very charged time, and one which suggests that mentally ill people like her son are dangerous and scary.
Ordinary people have the capacity to do awful things. And that is awful and terrible. And we should talk about why that is. We should talk about why it is that most rampage killers come from a very specific background, and about the culture of masculinity in the United States. We should also talk about the fact that all of the adult victims in this awful crime were women, and that women are disproportionately victims of violent crime, including rampage shootings like this one. It is not a coincidence that disaffected white men are targeting women.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ALL THE TIME
Here’s the thing. We need better mental health services in the United States. Mental health advocates, patients, and professionals have been speaking out about this issue nonstop for years. Yet, society collectively doesn’t pay attention until something awful happens, at which point the focus is usually purely about how to stop mentally ill people from doing awful things, even though the vast majority of mentally ill people aren’t likely to ever do awful things.
There’s no thought to the benefits comprehensive mental health services would offer to society in general, not just mentally ill people — nor is there thought to what those services might look like. We live in a country wherelaw enforcement are often tasked with providing mental health servicesand parents of severely mentally ill children are told there are no resources for them and they should call the police for help. Yet calling the police is extremely dangerous for mentally ill people.
We live in a country where it is extremely difficult to access services and to maintain continuity of care, two things that are critical for mentally ill people.
If your tooth really hurts, you’re going to be extremely persistent about finding a dentist, because your tooth hurts, you understand why it is hurting, and you want it to stop. You’ll make the calls you need to make, sit at the walk-in clinic, do what you have to do. If you’re having a mental health crisis, you don’t have the capacity to fight for treatment. You’re likely to end up homeless, using drugs, and struggling to survive. You will likely be victimized, and you’ll fall into the justice system, which won’t provide you with adequate mental health services.
Mentally ill people need stigma reduction. And comprehensive services including early intervention and preventative care, diversion programs, cooperative programs integrating experienced personnel at every level, from schools to colleges to workplaces. And social support throughout treatment. And a recognition that mental illness isn’t the end of your life, but treatment is a lifelong commitment, and treatment needs may be complex. They can also change over time, requiring constant check-ins and adjustment.
Mentally ill people need more than a band-aid solution thought up in a hurry in a reactive response to a horrible act committed by someone who may or may not have had a mental illness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see people taking an interest in mental health policy, but I am disappointed in how misplaced it is at the moment. If we want genuine mental health reform, we need to be covering it all the time, not just when we’re looking for a convenient scapegoat. News coverage of mental health issues is virtually nonexistent, and what coverage there is tends to be very poor.
By all means, let’s improve mental health services in the US. Please. We desperately need it.
But if you want to talk about how to prevent rampage violence, I’m afraid you’re going to need to move on to other subjects. Subjects like gun control. Like sexism and misogyny. Like how we talk about masculinity. Like how we model social behaviors. Like how we interact with each other as human beings
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mental illness is constantly either demonized or romanticized by society and there is no space in that dichotomy for real people with mental illness to exist without feeling shamed and invalidated and that isn’t fair
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You know what having a mental disability is?
It’s never asking for accommodations you know you desperately need because you’ve been taught that you don’t deserve them.
It’s being afraid to say you can’t do something or tell someone that you need help because you know they’re just going to guilt you about how they thought you were “stronger than that” or “why can’t you get over it.”
It’s the fact that being seen as disabled is mutually exclusive from being seen as “functioning,” and if for one second you look like one, then obviously you can’t be the other.
It’s the fact that “functioning” for you is held up to the exact same standards as everyone else who isn’t disabled, and functioning any less than “highly” (perfectly) means you’re worthless and can’t be trusted to do anything right or well.
It’s the people who love you never, ever being able to grasp the fact that “irrational” or “all in your head” doesn’t change the fact that you experience what you experience and it fucking hurts.
It’s people telling you that you need to smile more, or speak up, or try harder because “everyone has bad days.”
It’s people saying things like “well at least you can walk” because physical disability is seen as more valid and real than your disability.
It’s also, at the same time, nobody saying you’re “brave” or “inspiring” for managing to do things outside of your limitations.
It’s being told you’re horribly selfish for being the way you are, and being expected to change that and never fight with it ever again.
It’s people you love honestly telling you that they’ve suffered too because of you, and it’s so difficult to deal with you, and you should be grateful they put up with it.
It’s being eyed in the hallway because you’ve been labeled “dangerous” even if you haven’t actually hurt anyone.
It’s being told you’re just “doing it for the attention,” and being told that needing attention is bad.
It’s being told in order to be good or valued that you need to somehow magically make yourself all better.
It’s relatives asking all the time if you’re “still” taking medication.
It’s people listening to neurotypical people more than they listen to you because everything you say is automatically discredited because you’re insane, or broken, or some other bullshit excuse for ignoring you.
It’s being told that it is impossible for you to know what’s best for you.
It’s never getting a “get well soon” card when you’re being treated because no one expects you to “get well,” or thinks there’s anything for you to get well from.
It’s having to repeatedly explain that there’s only so much you can do, and to please not push you, but no one listens.
It’s being reminded every day of your life that you are a weak, horrible, diseased thing, and that first and foremost your kind should be eradicated from the genome instead of treated.
It’s fighting with your insurance repeatedly over whether or not your condition is “legitimate” enough to be covered.
It’s hating yourself, and feeling like a burden, and being incredibly lonely, and being marginalized because there’s something wrong with you.
It’s looking in the media and seeing 9 out of 10 portrayals of someone with your condition being a manic, screaming, uncontrollable lunatic; or a drooling, childlike, oblivious dullard; or any combination thereof. (What I’m saying is, negatively stereotyped all to hell. And if they’re not a bloodthirsty villain, they’re a plot bus.)
It’s probably having multiple slurs against yourself solidly ingrained in your own vocabulary.
It’s having hordes of people question or genuinely outright not believe your disability even exists.
It’s your employer or school never accepting your sick days because you aren’t really “sick.”
It’s syrupy fountains of superficial pity being poured over you whenever it’s convenient.
It’s having your condition romanticized and glorified to the point where everyone is surprised and disappointed to find out that in real life it’s ugly, and messy, and makes you absolutely miserable.
It’s getting fired for all of the above, even if you’ve never made a mistake any worse than your abled coworkers.
It’s wondering every fucking day what you did to deserve this.
That’s what it’s like.
