People who struggle with mental illness are often construed as dangerous, but in reality they’re more likely to be the victims of a crime than the perpetrator. In fact, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, people who have a mental illness are two-and-a-half to four times more likely to be at the receiving end of violence, more so than any other segment of the population.
What is bizarre is that the opposite is presented almost every time we watch the news, pick up a book, or see a movie. It is generally thought that to commit a crime, there must be some sort of imbalance, that psychiatric issues must be present in a person for them to possibly commit a violent crime.
By not challenging this misconception, not only are people who have mental illnesses being demonized, dehumanized, and isolated, but key issues are being disregarded.
The systemic challenges that contribute to criminal behavior are not being addressed in part due to this lie of the danger in mental illness that is being pumped through us.
The challenge is to take on the painstaking process of unlearning and disregarding this fabricated reality. It is coming to grips with the reality that people don’t have to be mentally ill to violate the law. It is pushing for realistic representation in the media of individuals with psychiatric (dis)abilities, by speaking against the ample misrepresentation of this community.