Drug and Alcohol Abuse Linked to Violence

Researchers who studied more than 8,000 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and 3,700 with bipolar disorder in Sweden over a 30-year period have reported that the key factor in violence by people with mental illnesses is drug and alcohol abuse. According to the study, the violent crime rate of people with mental illnesses who have substance use disorders but do not have mental illnesses: some six to seven times higher than that of the general population. "The relationship between violent crime and serious mental illness can be explained by alcohol and substance abuse," Dr. Seena Fazel, a forensic psychiatrist and the University of Oxford said. He added that people with mental illnesses who did not abuse substances were only at "minimally increased risk" of committing violent crime.

The results of this study mirror at least two similar studies in the U.S.

OptumHealth, a national managed care organization (MCO), is offering a day-long training for administrators of consumer and family-run organizations about partnering with managed care companies. The training will cover how managed care works, detail the pros and cons of working within a managed care network, help participants identify the programs they offer that might be funded through a managed care contract and outline how to move forward to seek such a contract.
"The Next Step to Sustainability: Expanding Our Family/Consumer-Run Organization‟s Impact by Joining a Managed Care Organization Network" is free but registration is limited to the first 100 participants at each event. The institutes will be held in Albany, NY (Oct. 25, 2010); Atlanta, GA (Nov. 3, 2010; and Austin, TX (Jan. 11, 2011). To register for the Albany training, contact MHEPINC@aol.com. For Atlanta, contact scott@bcinnocations.com, and for Austin, contact jenpadron@austin.rr.com.

Americans still harbor prejudice against people with serious behavioral health conditions despite their greater awareness of the genetic and medical explanations of these conditions, according to a recently published article in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Researchers at Indiana and Columbia universities conducted face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of nearly 2,000 adults in 1996 and again in 2006 as part of the broad, biennial General Social Survey. In 2006, 67 percent of interviewees believed depression to be a neurobiological problem, compared to 54 percent in 1996; and more interviewees supported treatment in 2006 than in 1996. But neurobiological explanations for psychiatric disabilities seemed linked to increased, not decreased, prejudice and discrimination. The study calls into question public education campaigns based on calling mental illness a "disease like any other," the researchers suggest. Indiana University sociologist, Bernice Pescosolido, says, "It‟s time to stand back and rethink our approach."

The Urban Justice Center and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of New York State have published a guide for family and friends of people with mental illnesses who go to prison. The guide outlines services available for people with mental illnesses in prison and describes how family members can advocate for the person in prison while getting support for themselves. It also details how to become active in larger advocacy efforts countering the criminalization of mental illness. The publication can be downloaded at: www.urbanjustice.org/pdf/publications/mhp_08sept10.pdf

This article is reprinted from Peer Specialist Resource Review,
Page 6. National Association of Peer Specialist Newsletter—Fall 2010