THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Your front-page report ``Crime and the mentally ill'' did much to reinforce the myth that people suffering from mental illness are violent.
The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that more than 50 million Americans suffer from some form of mental illness in any given year. To imply that 13 cases reflect a trend is analogous to saying if 13 people with black hair steal cars, then people with black hair are car thieves.
The fact is that a very small percentage of those suffering from mental illness are violent. The majority of those suffering are incapacitated by depression, and the small percentage who are dangerous are usually dangerous only to themselves.
A Washington Post article titled ``For the Mentally Ill, Another Stigma'' quotes Dr. Robert Wellster, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh: ``A certain percentage of the chronically mental ill are violent. But given the prevalence of homicide and violent crime in the U.S In other words, a mentally ill person is not significantly more likely than anyone else to be violent.
The sensationalism in your article creates/reinforces an irrational fear that perpetuates discrimination against those suffering from emotional illness. The vast majority of crimes committed are committed by people who are not mentally ill.
This unfortunate sensationalism, while it helps sell newspapers, does a disservice to those - such as the Alliance for the Mentally Ill - who are trying so hard, through education, to eradicate the many misconceptions and resulting fear and stigmas which result from an uninformed and/or narrow view of mental illness.
ALLAN D. ERBE, administrator
Maryview Medical Center
Portsmouth, June 24, 1994 by CNB