Reporting mental health and violence
The truth about mental health problems and violence
One of the most damaging public misconceptions about people with mental health problems is that they are dangerous and unpredictable - 34% of people in England think that people with a mental illness are likely to be violent (Survey of Attitudes Toward Mental Illness, Department of Health 2007).
Extensive coverage of rare but sensational murders
carried out by small number of psychiatric patients
tends to create the misleading impression that everyone
with a mental health problem is a ‘mad axeman’. The
facts do not justify this interpretation. Research has
established a ‘modest’ association between severe
mental illness (A Reassessment of the Link between
Mental Disorder and Violent Behaviour, and its
Implications for Clinical Practice, Mullen PE; Aust N Z
J Psychiatry 1997; 31(1):3-11) and violence, but mental
illness accounts for a relatively small proportion of
violent crime (Criminal and Violent Behaviour in
Schizophrenic Patients: An Overview. Psychiatry and
Clinical Neuroscience, Modestin J; 1998;
52(6):547-554.).
It has been established that about 9% of homicides, just over 50 of the 600 homicides a year in England and Wales, are perpetrated by someone with a history of mental illness (The National Confidential Inquiry into Homicide and Suicide by People with Mental Illness, 2006), but mental illness is not always a factor in all these cases.
It has been established that about 9% of homicides, just over 50 of the 600 homicides a year in England and Wales, are perpetrated by someone with a history of mental illness (The National Confidential Inquiry into Homicide and Suicide by People with Mental Illness, 2006), but mental illness is not always a factor in all these cases.
"This handbook quite rightly doesn't
ask reporters to ignore someone's mental health
problems if they are pertinent to their involvement in
a crime."
"But quite reasonably it does ask that these facts are set in context, so we don’t create the impression that everyone who is mentally ill is a murderer."
"There’s so much misunderstanding about mental illness, we do need to report it accurately and sensitively."
Jon Clements, Crime Reporter, Daily Mirror
"But quite reasonably it does ask that these facts are set in context, so we don’t create the impression that everyone who is mentally ill is a murderer."
"There’s so much misunderstanding about mental illness, we do need to report it accurately and sensitively."
Jon Clements, Crime Reporter, Daily Mirror
In fact stranger homicides - random attacks on members of the public by people with mental illness - are very rare. They account for about five a year, less than 1%, of the 600 homicides in England and Wales every year (The National Confidential Inquiry into Homicide and Suicide by People with Mental Illness, 2006).
Most homicides committed by people with mental health problems, whether by a mother with post-natal depression or someone with schizophrenia, are sadly perpetrated against their own families, often when there has been a breakdown in the provision of care.
Schizophrenia does carry a slightly higher risk of violence than other mental illnesses. About 30 homicides in England and Wales, five per cent of the total, are carried out every year by people with schizophrenia - again most of these crimes are against family or friends (The National Confidential Inquiry into Homicide and Suicide by People with Mental Illness, 2006). But the public fear of ‘schizophrenics’ is out of all proportion to the real risks. Of course, the reality is that people with schizophrenia tend to be vulnerable and withdrawn when ill, struggling with symptoms often described as ‘a living nightmare’, and are far more likely to hurt themselves than others.
Of course, the media will always cover sensational murders or violent crimes, irrespective of whether they are perpetrated by people with mental health problems or not. But it is important when reports highlight mental illness as being a factor in a violent crime that it is seen in the context.
When covering homicides, seek comment from the Department of Health press office and leading mental health charities such as Mind and Rethink.
They will all stress that it is very rare for people with mental health problems to carry out homicides. Most people with a mental illness pose no threat to anyone.
Shift is also working with the police and the criminal justice system to ensure they emphasise these facts when talking to the media about these cases.
When reporting newsworthy child abductions, the media often stresses the rarity of this crime. This is to avoid creating public alarm disproportionate to the risk to any one family, which is of course very small. It would be fair and responsible to take the same approach when reporting mental illness and violence.
