Schizophrenia and Murder

Sorry that I need to change the big umbrella of this blog since there are not much to talk about Antisocial Personality DIsorder and crime other than serial killing and drug abuse. From now on I will find informations and articles about mental disorder vs crime.

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that has a sign of having hallucinations, or unrealistic thoughts. How does this mental disorder relate to crime ?

In public, there are prevalent views that schizophrenia people are dangerous, often serial killer. In this entry, I am going to present an incident in USA.

In 2010, Mark Becker was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas. After the announcement of the sentence, Thomas's family had a statement on how the justice has been served. Yet it is ironic that Becker's family said the system failed Mark miserably in their statement. In Mark's family statement, his mum mentioned that it is impossible that Mark could have killed anyone in his "insane mind"

What the news stories did not provide was a complete picture of schizophrenia. It is true that a few people with mental disorder go out of control and commit horrible crimes, however a schizophrenia patient interviewed in the community where the murder took place said, often schizophrenia patients live quiet, unremarkable lives. Not many of them talk openly about their experiences, however public receive information from extreme cases like Becker's.

Imagine when you see UFO, knowing FBI is after you, and when you tell your family and friends, nobody believes in you. You might keep telling people around you what you saw, what you heard 10 minutes ago everyday, however when nobody believes in you, sooner or after you will stop talking and telling with people, and withdraw yourself from social interaction.

Publicity about violent schizophrenia patients dives a cycle of silence and misunderstandings. Every time the public heard about the illness (Schizophrenia or any mental disorder) being linked to a hideous crime, the stigma or label surrounding the illness gets stronger. That stigma and label makes people with mental illnesses even more resistant to openly speak about their less dramatic experience everyday, and have their own justice served.

Quoting from a psychiatrist at University of Iowa Hospitals, Dr. Michael Flaum said no one disputes that schizophrenia and similar diseases (that cannot communicate with other people normally.) can lead people to commit horrible, newsworthy crimes. Ironically, people with schizophrenia can be easy prey for criminals, as the illness often interferes with people socially abilities as aforementioned, which can leave them poor, homeless and careless.

Somehow, people are going to have break through the shame of mental illness. We need thousands of people out there working to bring the correct information to public eye.