Violence Against Those with Mental Illness?
I was reading an update from disability.gov on a new study from researchers at NC State concerning the frequency with which folks with mental illnesses are victims of violence. The paper, published online at the American Journal of Public Health site, is titled Community Violence Perpetration and Victimization Among Adults With Mental Illnesses. The article’s abstract gives the following information:
Objectives. In a large heterogeneous sample of adults with mental illnesses, we examined the 6-month prevalence and nature of community violence perpetration and victimization, as well as associations between these outcomes…
Results. Prevalence of perpetration ranged from 11.0% to 43.4% across studies, with approximately one quarter (23.9%) of participants reporting violence. Prevalence of victimization was higher overall (30.9%), ranging from 17.0% to 56.6% across studies. Most violence (63.5%) was perpetrated in residential settings. The prevalence of violence-related physical injury was approximately 1 in 10 overall and 1 in 3 for those involved in violent incidents. There were strong associations between perpetration and victimization.
Conclusions. Results provided further evidence that adults with mental illnesses experienced violent outcomes at high rates, and that they were more likely to be victims than perpetrators of community violence. There is a critical need for public health interventions designed to reduce violence in this vulnerable population.
A pdf of the article is available here. The authors conclude:
[O]ur results provided further evidence that adults with mental illnesses experienced violent outcomes in the community at high rates. They also indicated that adults with mental illnesses were more likely to be victims than perpetrators of community violence. There are many factors that should be explored to better understand the prevalence of and association between community violence perpetration and victimization in this population, such as comorbid diagnoses, poverty, and neighborhood factors. Moreover, in addition to focusing on the risk for violence associated with mental illness, there is a critical need for the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions designed to reduce violence victimization and perpetration among this vulnerable population. (pgs. 6-7)