FUNDAMENTAL FACTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH 2016

1.4 Challenging myths and
stereotypes: Violence and
mental health
“Most people with mental health
problems are not violent and most
people who are violent are not
mentally ill.” 100
Professor Dame Sally Davies
UK Chief Medical Officer
Fundamental Facts can help to challenge
myths and stereotypes. One of the
most discriminatory stereotypes is the
incorrect association between mental
health problems and violent behaviour.
The media may play a role in portraying
people with mental health problems as
violent. A 2011 study on discrimination
in England reported that 14% of national
newspaper articles addressing mental
health issues referred to those with
mental health problems as being a
danger to others. 101
• People with severe mental health
problems are much more likely to
harm themselves than they are to
harm others. In 2013, 1,876 suicides
were recorded among mental health
inpatients in the UK, compared to 51
homicides. 102
• A recent analysis found that the
rate of violence over a four-year
period among those with severe
mental health problems was 2.88%,
compared to 0.83% in the general
population. Rather than mental
illness causing violence, the two
were found to be connected mainly
through the accumulation of other
risk factors, such as substance abuse
and childhood abuse/neglect. 103
• People with mental health problems
are more likely to be victims of
violence than those without mental
health problems. A 2013 British
survey among persons with severe
mental health problems found that:
––
45% had been victims of crime
in the previous year
––
One in five had experienced a
violent assault
––
People with mental health
problems were five times more
likely to be a victim of assault
and any crime than those
without
––
Women with severe mental
health problems were 10 times
more likely to experience assault
than those without
––
People with mental health
problems were more likely to
report that the police had been
unfair compared to the general
population 104
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