Most Mentally ill People are Violent

Introduction

Most people believe that most of the mentally ill people are violent. This is because mentally ill people are perceived to be very different from normal people. This is however not the case simply because, mentally ill people are not very different from normal people. They do have emotions and whenever they are provoked or disturbed, they tend to react as normal people also do. In addition, they do also maintain peace particularly if they are at a place where the environment is safe for them. It is therefore wrong to say that most mentally ill persons are violent. This paper is therefore going to critically analyse the behaviour of mentally ill people in order to explain the reason as to why most mentally ill people are not violent.

When most people commit violence, they are usually tested to make sure if they are mentally ill or not. This therefore explains why most people believe that mentally ill people are violent (Lilienfeld et al, 2011). In a recent research conducted in England, it was discovered that 78% of all the violence created in the country was caused by normal people. This therefore shows that in as much as people believe that most mentally ill people are violent, they are actually not. Mentally ill people tend to think and do things differently but that does not mean that most of them are violent. They may be hostile to some people, and this might be due to the memories that they have about something awful (Videbeck, 2011). For instance, when a mentally ill person’s life is threatened by a police officer, then it means that the person will tend to be violent when around a police officer due to the fear of being killed.

In addition, normal people are more violent as compared to the mentally ill. This is so because, normal people lead to violence in order to gain their own interests. For instance when a lady is caught doing something ill and confronted, she will tend to be violent as a way of being protective (Jackson, 2013). This therefore clearly explains why normal people tend to be more violent as compared to the mentally ill persons. On the other hand, recent studies have also found out that the abuse of drugs and alcohol is greater than mental illness when it comes to contribution to violence (Lilienfeld et al, 2011). Furthermore, the main predictor of violence is not mental behaviour, but the previous history of violence in the family. People who are from violent families, regardless of whether they are mentally ill or not, are likely to be more violent in the future. Mental illness does not therefore guarantee violence (Tsuang, Tohen & Jones, 2011).

Mentally ill persons are likely to be more violent as compared to normal people, only if they indulge in the abuse of substance and drugs (Videbeck, 2011). This consequently makes them aggressive and very violent, hence they cannot be tolerated by anyone. Similarly, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, mentally ill persons do not attack strangers, but they attack people who are very close to them. They might have their own reasons for doing so, but drugs are the main drivers of violence and not the mental health of a person (Lilienfeld et al, 2011). Poverty and fleeting lifestyle may also make mentally ill people violent, and this is usually attributed to stress, thus making them to react negatively.

Mentally ill people are more violent to themselves as compared to other people. They will mostly do things which will harm themselves and not to harm other people. For instance, the number suicides committed by mentally ill persons has been on the rise (Lilienfeld et al, 2011). This consequently shows how mentally people harm themselves as compared to the harm which they might cause on other people (Tsuang, Tohen & Jones, 2011). In order for a mental ill person to attack someone violently, then the person must have done something which may not have impressed the mentally ill person. This consequently leads to a very furious reaction whereby the victim may be hurt (Videbeck, 2011).

Normal people can also affect the way mentally ill persons behave (Lilienfeld et al, 2011). This is because if a person hosting the victim treats him or her violently, then the victim is likely to develop violent traits. The victim may therefore be very violent, thus making other people to assume that all mentally ill persons are also violent (Jackson, 2013). On the other hand, the media has depicted mentally ill persons as violent, through television shows which show how mentally ill people are very violent. This mentality should therefore change, hence normal people respect the mentally ill.

Conclusion

Mentally ill persons should be respect, and they should not be perceived as being violent. They equal to normal people and they do therefore reason and think. When a person commits a crime, he or she should not therefore be termed as mentally ill, since most people would criminals commit crimes and pretend to be mentally ill. Mentally ill persons are not in any way violent, it depends with the way a person treats them. If only normal people could respect the mentally ill, then the mentally ill would respect them equally.

Reference

Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2011). 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Videbeck, S. L. (2011). Psychiatric-mental health nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Jackson, E. (2013). Medical law: Text, cases, and materials.

Tsuang, M. T., Tohen, M., & Jones, P. B. (2011). Textbook of psychiatric epidemiology. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.