|
RESEARCH WEEKLY: November Research Roundup
By Morré Taylor
(November 30, 2022) Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about severe mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments.
DATAPOINT OF THE MONTH
People with SMI are 11.8x more likely to be a victim of violent crime.
One of the harmful myths about people with serious mental illness is that they are prone to committing acts of violence. Many researchers actually find that people with serious mental illness are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators of it. For example, data from SMI Adviser found that someone who has serious mental illness is, on average, 11.8 times more likely to be the victim of a violent crime compared to the general population. This statistic categorizes people with serious mental illness as being high risk for victimization.
RESEARCH OF THE MONTH
Black individuals with SMI face significantly high levels of violence and victimization.
Black individuals with severe mental illness are at an extreme risk for victimization, yet this risk is often overlooked because of stereotypes that construct Black people and people with severe mental illness as perpetrators of violence— a narrative that ignores their vulnerability to victimization. A recent study exploring experiences of crime, violence and victimization among Black adults with severe mental illness in a major urban city found that 86% of study participants were victims of crime or violence, the most common types of violence being: gun violence, other forms of violence (ex. physical assault or hit-and-runs) and nonviolent crimes, such as theft and Internet scams.
Additionally, 50% of participants reported hearing about a crime or violent encounter in their community and 29% personally knew a victim of crime or violence. As a result of these traumatizing experiences, several participants reported reactions such as living in fear, anger, difficulty managing conflict and worsened mental health. This research effectively challenges the false notion that Black people and people with severe mental illness are solely perpetrators of violence by highlighting their experiences of victimization and its negative impact on one’s quality of life.
Smith, M. E., et al. (2022). Experiences of personal and vicarious victimization for black adults with serious mental illnesses: Implications for treating socially-engineered trauma. Smith College Studies in Social Work.
Victimization can cause high levels of social isolation.
People with serious mental illness who experience victimization may also suffer from extreme social withdrawal— which can be defined as the absence of social interaction on an individual level (with friends and family) or on a societal level. Researchers interviewed people with serious mental illness about their experiences with victimization, discrimination and self-stigma and found that 21% of participants had high social withdrawal, 75% had experienced some form of discrimination, 20% had been victims of a personal crime within the past year and 25% had been victims of a property crime within the past year.
More specifically, the researchers found that after being victimized, participants became more sensitive to experiences of discrimination. This made them more likely to sever important social relationships, thus facilitating social withdrawal. This finding led the researchers to support the theory that when people with serious mental illness reach out for help following an incident of victimization, they are likely to face discrimination such as being ridiculed, not taken seriously or being blamed for the incident. This sequence of events could trigger a “why try” mentality that causes a person with severe mental illness to retreat into isolation and be reluctant to seek treatment.
Ruijne, R.E., et al. (2022). Experiencing discrimination mediates the relationship between victimization and social withdrawal in patients suffering from a severe mental illness: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Psychiatric Research.
| 
