Crimes Distort Reality of Schizophrenia

Tony Leys, who writes about health for the Des Moines (IA) Register, interviewed PHLR Methods Core member Jeffrey Swanson for March 7 story about the relationship between mental illness and violence, and the unfortunate public image of schizophrenia.

Jeffrey Swanson, a medical sociology professor at Duke University Medical School in North Carolina, said a survey found that more than half of Americans think people with schizophrenia generally are dangerous.

"It's not hard to see why," he said. "If you look at how people with serious mental illness are portrayed in crime dramas and in the newspaper, that's the kind of portrayal you see. ...

"It's very painful. Imagine you're someone who's afflicted with this miserable illness, and you're trying your best to recover from it - and you know that for everybody out there, their impression of your illness is shaped by these kinds of stories..."

[Swanson's] research focuses on factors that contribute to violence among people with psychiatric disorders. For example, he said, schizophrenia patients are more likely to lash out if they abuse alcohol or other drugs, if they refuse to take psychiatric medications, and if they had behavioral problems as children. Also, young adults and men are more likely to be violent than older adults and women. So are patients who are unemployed and poor..."

Swanson said research is mixed on how much the newer drugs reduce violence, though he believes some of them can help.