Mental Illness and Vulnerability

[HereSince1628]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/mental-illness-and-vulnerability/

Compared with the rest of the population, people {in Sweden} with mental illness may be at sharply increased risk of dying by homicide, a new study has found.

<snip>

After controlling for age, education level, income and other factors, they found that people with mental illness were almost five times as likely to be a victim of murder as a person without a psychiatric diagnosis. The study appeared online last week in the journal BMJ.

The risk was highest among those with substance use disorders — nine times that of the general population. Those with personality disorders had three times the risk, people with depression two and a half times, and those with anxiety or schizophrenia about twice the risk of being murdered, compared with people without mental illness.

The lead author, Dr. Casey Crump, a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, said the findings were consistent with those from smaller studies done in the United States.

<snip>

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Good info for law enforcement to take into consideration and very valuable information, thank you

for posting.

Love, Peace and Shelter. lmsp

[Neoma]

2. Makes me glad I didn't ever self-medicate.

[Tobin S.]

3. You are fortunate.

I drank heavily for much of the time I was suffering from my symptoms. In the short term, while I was under the influence, it was like a blessing. My symptoms would go away. Then I would sober up and actually feel worse than before I started drinking. I think you can see how this kind of behavior can become cyclical.

I am fortunate in one regard. I did not become dependent on alcohol. I still have a few here, mostly on the weekends, but I don't drink nearly as much as I used to.