The Mental Illness-Violence Link: What the research shows about a complicated and uncomfortable connection – Psychology Today [2023-08-30]

The recent shooting in Jacksonville has predictably renewed the public debate on violence and mental illness. The same sequence plays out after every horrible incident: First, there is the accusation, often from right-leaning lawmakers, that mental illness is what is driving our dizzying rate of mass shootings and that more needs to be done to protect the public from dangerous people. Soon following are emphatic statements from mental health advocacy groups that no real association between mental illness and violence exists and that those with mental health problems are far more likely to be victims of violent actions then perpetrators.

These arguments vigorously bounce around for a while on the news cycle and in social media, thoroughly confusing any well-meaning individual who is honestly trying to understand the issue, until the debate just fizzles out (until the next shooting).

Is there any way we can move this discussion forward to a place of real understanding? Actually there is, but it requires a little more time than a soundbite, and a shift from more dogmatic political positions to one that requires a bit of nuance and acceptance of complexity.