Psych, violence ‘overestimated’

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 15

Psych, violence ‘overestimated’

People overestimate the violent tendencies of psychiatric patients as well as violence in their own community, says a visiting Australian expert, Dr Bill Lucas.

He arrived in Christchurch this week to speak to mental health professionals about assessing the level of danger in psychiatric patients. It is one of his specialties as director of forensic psychiatry for the South Australian Health Commission, based in Adelaide.

“Many studies have shown that the mentally ill do not make an undue contribution to violence,” he said. “In fact, some may be less violent than the general population.”

Fears about street violence and violent acts by strangers were also exaggerated. Most murders and other violent acts were against family and acquaintances.

“A few spectacular offences, particularly unsolved murders, and people see their community as being much more dangerous than it is,” Dr Lucas said.

“Many of the people the public thinks should be kept in psychiatric hospitals are not mentally ill and could not or should not be detained,” he said. That sometimes included those with a history of violent or sexual offences who might have been admitted to hospitals several times, possibly because of suicide attempts.