Problems with Schizophrenia Comic
See this comic.
What’s the problem? The claim that the schizophrenic aren’t more dangerous. Actually, people with delusions are significantly more likely than those without to engage in physical assault – and the problem is that it’s very difficult to predict when they’ll do so.
Obviously, given ‘sane’ individuals can be very violent too, and if a given schizophrenic has no history of violent reactions there’s really no reason to think they’ll suddenly start. But all else being equal, they’re a greater danger to others than they’d otherwise be.
I’m not even going to touch the discussion of what the causes of schizophrenia are – that topic requires more work than is suitable for this post.
October, 2009 at 6:09 am
— a violent schizophrenic is going to be more violent than a violent person without schizophrenia? — is that what you are saying?
Does that negate the statement that most schizophrenics are not violent?
October, 2009 at 3:42 pm
No. But, knowing only that a person is schizophrenic, we can conclude that the chances of them initiating a violent conflict with another person are much higher than they are for a randomly-selected individual, statistically speaking.
Not grossly so. Considered as a population, the schizophrenic aren’t grossly more violent. The problem isn’t so much that they’re more likely to be violent, but that their violence is so difficult to anticipate.