Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder denoting an often chronic, major mental illness primarily affecting thinking, with attendant difficulties in perception of reality, which in turn can affect behavior and emotion. The term schizophrenia comes from the Greek words σχίζω (schizo, split or divide) and φρενός (phrenos, mind) and can be translated as "shattered mind."

Schizophrenia and violence

Although schizophrenia is sometimes associated with violence in the media, only a minority of people with schizophrenia become violent, and only a minority of people who commit criminal violence have been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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Research has suggested that schizophrenia is associated with a slight increase in risk of violence, although this risk is largely due to a small sub-group of individuals for whom violence is associated with concurrent substance abuse, active delusional beliefs of threat or persecution, and ceasing effective treatment for previous violent behavior{{Fn|41}}.

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For the most serious acts of violence, long-term independent studies of convicted murderers in both New Zealand{{Fn|42}} and Sweden{{Fn|43}} found that only 8.7%–8.9% had been given a previous diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Related Topics:
New Zealand - Sweden

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Furthermore, research has shown that a person diagnosed with schizophrenia is more likely to be a victim of violence than the perpetrator{{Fn|44}}. Frequently, this is a result of the victims inability to function well and maintain proper behavior and thinking in the public sphere, and violent action is taken upon the victim while the perpetrator is most often unaware that the victim has a crippling mental illness. People with schizophrenia who wind up in prison (often indirectly as a result of their illness) are also highly prone to being victims of violence, as many fellow inmates fail to make a distinction between the perceptions and behavior of a person with mental illness as with a person who expresses normal behavior.

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There is some evidence to suggest that in some people, the drugs used to treat schizophrenia may produce an increased risk for violence, largely due to agitation induced by akathisia, a side effect sometimes associated with antipsychotic medication{{Fn|45}}. Similarly, abuse experienced in childhood may contribute both to a slight increase in risk for violence in adulthood, as well as the development of schizophrenia{{Fn|46}}.

Related Topics:
Akathisia - Side effect - Antipsychotic

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