Psychosis and Violence

ARE SCHIZOPHRENICS LIKELY TO BE DANGEROUS?

Most people with schizophrenia are respectable law-abiding citizens and no danger to other people. Only a small proportion of the people with criminal or murderous tendencies are psychotic or susceptible to psychosis. People with schizophrenia are more likely to be a danger to themselves than to other people.

However, there are exceptions. Tristan in Alphen aan den Rijn shot six innocent bystanders before killing himself. Marco in Heerlen in Limburg struck out at someone with a sword. One newspaper claimed to have Tristan’s medical data and that he should have been taking antipsychotics (olanzapine) but had stopped his treatment. Marco published weblogs on the internet. The reports of them show that he was crazy and in need of help from mental health services. The writer of this theme knows that when he stopped taking antipsychotics he lost touch with reality, and though not aggressive to other people was a danger to himself.

Books like Henry’s Demons (Henry was a danger to himself not to others) show that some people are in need of treatment whether psychological or medicinal. There is debate as to whether compulsory medication is ethical, and as usual there are two sides to the story. One writer in Psy magazine had signed a self-binding contract to say if she became psychotic she should be given medicines, even against her will. Such a contract, like a crisis card, takes courage and considerable self-insight and is only possible during moments of sanity.

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