In My Voice: Decoupling Mental Illness and Violence as a Psychiatrist

“Focusing on shoring up the mental health system as a way to prevent mass shootings or other violence is not an effective strategy.”

Throughout Mental Health Month, we will be sharing Q&As with individuals who have experience with different aspects of mental health and gun violence. Today, we share a Q&A with Dr. Amy Barnhorst, MD. Dr. Barnhorst is a member of the Consortium for Risk-Based Firearm Policy and the Vice Chair of Community Psychiatry at UC — Davis.

What is the most common misconception the general public has about serious mental illness?

One of the most common misconceptions about mental illness is that people with mental illness are responsible for much of the violence in our world. Although often portrayed as violent by the media, people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have about the same risk of violence as demographically similar people (same age, same neighborhood, same education level, etc.) who don’t have those illnesses.

Only about four percent of violence that goes on in our communities happens because of serious mental illness; the rest is due to other risk factors for violence like drugs and alcohol…