Blaming mental illness supports no one. NAMI Maine respects the emotional need to understand why horrible tragedies happen.

But far too often, our society looks for an easy answer. As hard as it may be to accept, there are no easy answers when it comes to mental illness.

Forced medication is not a solution – it is a Band-Aid. In heartbreaking cases, at some point in time, individuals were often forced to take medication, and yet those tragedies still happened.

The uncomfortable truth is we fail to make the same investment in mental health as we do in physical health. Equally as important, we allow children to be physically and sexually abused, families to experience hunger, and addictions to go untreated.

Research illustrates reality is far different from perception when it comes to the connection between mental illness and violence.

“High-profile mass shootings capture public attention and increase vigilance of people with mental illness. Findings clearly show that psychosis rarely leads directly to violence,” said Jennifer Skeem, associate dean of research at UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare.

Skeem continues, “It’s important to remember that risk factors for violence – such as substance abuse, childhood maltreatment, neighborhood disadvantage – are mostly shared by people with and without mental illness, and that’s what we should be focused on if maximizing public safety is our goal.”

According to a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health, only 5 percent of the 120,000 gun murders in the United States between 2001 and 2010 were committed by people diagnosed with a mental illness. As a nation and as a state, we must stop blaming mental illness when tragedies occur.

Jenna Mehnert, MSW

executive director, NAMI Maine

Augusta

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