The relationship between mental illness and violent crime – though non-existent – sadly remains a significant factor in 60,000 Wichitans every year not seeking care for their mental health. This fallacious correlation that exists only in our minds creates a negative stigma that costs us all. So where does it come from?
It’s easy to look at a terrible situation created by humans and seek to separate ourselves from the extreme and vocal fringes who may engage in violence in the attempt to make a point. To drive home the desired separation, we resort to labels keeping them on their side and us on ours. Maybe we dismiss those folks with the label of an opposing political party. Maybe with a disparaging racial slur. Or maybe with an uninformed and undiagnosed mental illness.
The truth is that people living with mental illness are 12 times more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator. And the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit found that only one quarter of active shooter situations involve mental illness. In fact, a study done jointly by Duke University, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the University of Oxford found that mental illness is a factor in only about 4% of violent crime, and even lower than that when limited to gun violence.
Mental health remains an issue in our society, but perpetrating negative and erroneous connotations to it only drives the people you care about deeper underground and makes it harder to receive help. Let’s work together as a city to get educated and break down the stigma.
