All About Bipolar

Posted By atorturedsoul on September 24, 2009

Does mental illness increase a person’s risk of committing a violent crime? How does this contribute to stigma related to mental illness?

In a very small town in West Tennessee, two people were shot and killed on Wednesday, September 23, 2009. Investigators reported that 59 year old Alfred Stack entered Pathways Behavioral Health Services in neighboring Jackson, TN sometime before noon and informed counselors that he had shot and killed his sister, Billie Jean Shearon, and her boyfriend, Lynn Galligher. While he is currently being held in the Hardeman County jail, charges have not yet been filed. Stack will be officially charged with two counts of murder later today. It is also expected that he will be transferred to Western Mental Health Institute in Bolivar, TN for a psychiatric evaluation.

Silerton, TN, located in Hardeman County in southwestern Tennessee, is typically a peaceful little town and residents say that this is something they never expected to take place in their community. Stack’s family says that he was harmless and it had to be a case of self-defense. People living in the area state that Stack had suffered with mental illness for some time.

The population of Silerton, TN is reported to be 59. Hardeman County, TN has a population of 27,848. Indeed, it is a very small community and it is very likely that this event will result in a sweeping stigmatism of mental illness if Stack is declared incompetent to stand trial. The mere mention of mental illness will likely cause the same reaction and implant into the minds of residents that persons suffering with mental illness are violent. Is this an accurate or fair representation? Absolutely not.

According to “A Public Health Perspective on Violent Offenses Among Persons With Mental Illness”, a study completed by Heather L. Stuart, Ph.D. and Julio E. Arboleda-Flórez, M.D., Ph.D:

“The results of the study support the hypothesis that people with mental and substance use disorders are not major contributors to police-identified criminal violence. Public perceptions of mentally ill persons as criminally dangerous appear to be greatly exaggerated.”

http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/52/5/654

Numerous studies have shown that persons with mental illness are no more likely to commit a violent crime than anyone else. It has also shown that persons with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of crime.

The problem is this: The media typically sensationalizes the fact that a person committing a crime has a mental illness. Most people do not understand mental illness, and this lack of education on the subject leads them to believe that all persons with mental illness have the potential to be violent.

I have spoken to residents who live in Hardeman County and Mr. Stack has been referred to as “crazy”, with one resident saying he had “been crazy for a long time”. Again, this is a lack of understanding of mental illness. It seems very odd to me that a county that is home to one of the oldest and largest mental health treatment facilities in the state is plagued by so many misconceptions.

In short, for those of you who are curious, you’re just as likely to be killed by a person without a mental illness as a person with a mental illness. In fact, a person with a mental illness is more likely to be murdered than you are.

I will continue to watch this story and its affect on the stigma related to mental illness is small, rural areas.

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Categories: About Bipolar Disorder, Agoraphobia, Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia, My Personal Experiences, NOS, Panic Disorder, Psychosis
Tags: about, Alfred Stack, all, Billie Jean Shearon, Billy Jean Shearin, bipolar, Bolivar, crime, double, evaluation, Hardeman, health, homicide, illness, jackson, Lynn Galligher, Madison, mental, murder, Pathways, Psychiatric, Silerton, statistics, stigma, study, Tennessee, TN, violent, Western Mental Health Institute