Mental Illness Does Not Cause Mass Violence. Period.

I’d hoped it would be another blip on the radar: the blaming of mass shootings and violence on mental illness. This has been the claim so many times, and so many times it has been disproved by countless studies and experts. Although the idea will crop up here and there, it typically gets quickly quashed. This time it’s gone on for weeks, making headlines (touted by powerful persons), and I felt the need to address it.

Mental illness does not cause mass violence.

I could rant about the above in pages upon pages of text. I could find countless research articles and research summaries proving that statement. I could, but I’m not.

I’m choosing not to do this because there shouldn’t need to be any explanation. People with mental illness, people like me and the people I serve, are not going to be the scapegoat. I am glad there are others calling out powerful people for using us this way. However, I am tired of the fact that anyone has to continually be reminded that mental illness does not equal violence.

I want it to stand as a fact, alone, that having a mental illness is not the common thread tying together mass shootings. So I offer you no research, no statistics, no argument. You and I know the truth so I will preach it as fact.

Yes, people can do terrible things and some of those people might have a mental illness, but they also might not.

People with mental illnesses are your neighbors, your kids, your co-workers, your teachers, and, yes, your therapists, too. You know them living peacefully beside you, offering you support at work and school, and guiding you through your own difficulties with care and compassion. They are productive members of society managing their mental illness the same way another person might any physical illness.

Speaking of physical illnesses (like diabetes and multiple sclerosis)—what do you think the reaction would be to a world leader blaming mass violence on one of these illnesses? How about blaming mass violence on all the physical illnesses?

That’s what happening when someone says that mental illness causes mass violence. They are saying that all of the mental illnesses are causing mass violence. This is directed towards every person diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress, any substance use disorder, anorexia nervosa, somatoform disorder….these are only a fraction of the mental illnesses diagnosable by standards used in the United States.

How stupid it sounds to consider this asinine claim. How harmful it is that all of these people, all of us, get stigmatized once again. How long does it take before we don’t allow the idea to be entertained?

Stand up and preach our truth that mental illness does not cause mass violence.

Share To Facebook

Share To Twitter