Violence and Individuals with Mental Health Problems - Annotated Bibliography Example

Violence and individuals with mental health problems Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date: Elbogen, E. B., & Johnson, S. C. (2009). The intricate link between violence and mental disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 66 (2), 152-161. The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between mental health problems and the risk of violence. The study used longitudinal data from a survey by the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. The data was collected in two phases with 34, 653 respondents. The target population was the general US public. Weighted data was adjusted to represent the 2000 census on race, ethnicity, sex, age, and region to minimise variations. Respondents were interviewed face-face and the data analysed using univariate, bivariate , and multivariate analysis. 10.87 % of the respondents had a major depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia diagnosis and 9.4% were dependent on substance abuse and had co-occurring mental illnesses. The study made three major conclusions. One, mental disorders are not the sole contributor of violent offending. Secondly, people who have mental health problems and are substance dependent have an increased risk of violence compared to individuals with substance abuse alone. Thirdly, environmental stressors and historical incidences of violence were associated with individuals with severe mental illnesses and a likely contributor to the violence. Overall, the authors found no conclusive evidence of increased risk of violent offending in people with mental illnesses. This study was carried out to fill the gaps by other studies on the same topic that used data from mental health institutions thereby failing to generalise the results in the general population. It also addresses the public to minimise the stigma associated with mentally ill patients perpetrating violence as data shows minimal linkage. Johnson Sally is a medical doctor and Eric Elbogen is a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He works at the department of Psychiatry in the Forensic Psychiatry Program and Clinic. The research data was retrieved from The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) in two phases between 2001 and 2003, and 2004 and 2005. The conclusive research was submitted in 2008 April, revised in June, and accepted in July the same year. The data is represented in statistical graphs that are well discussed in simple English for the layperson. This study is useful in my research in that it provides statistical evidence of a moderate risk of violent offending. The study also shows that environmental stressors such as historical exposure to domestic violence are responsible for the risk involved and therefore in assessing increased risk of violence among mentally ill patients, environmental variables need to be addressed. The strengths of this article is that it shows statistical evidence and it used national data with a fair representation between sex, race, age, ethnicity, and region. However, the study has shortages in that it did not address all variables relating to violence such as perceived threats and medical adherence. The results supports other findings that conclude only moderate risk of violent offending among mentally ill patients and there are other factors involved not solely mental health problems. Smith, N., & Trimboli, L. (2010). Comorbid substance and non-substance mental health disorders and re-offending among NSW prisoners. Contemporary issues in crime and justice, 140, 1-16. The purpose of this study was to compare the risk of re-offending after release between prisoners with mental health problems and those without mental health problems. The mental health problems were inclusive of substance and non-substance disorder, comorbid substance and non-substance disorders. The Data from the Mental Health Survey 2001 and the NSW re-offending database were used to provide five-year background information on 1,208 respondents prior to jailing and two years after jailing. Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used among other mental health diagnosis methods. 23.8 % of the respondents did not have mental health problems. 41.2% had comorbid and non-substance mental health problems, 17.9% had at least one substance mental health problem and 17.1% had a mental problem with no substance disorder. The study concluded that respondents with substance disorder mental health problem had an increased chance of offence (70.4%) compared to those who had a non-substance mental health problem (53.6%). Respondents who had comorbid substance mental health problems showed no significant difference of offence compared with non-substance mental health problem individuals (75.7%). These statistics show an increased risk of offence between respondents with mental health problems compared with respondents without mental health problems (51.2%). Overall, the authors concluded that there is no significant difference between the risk of re-offence among individuals with no mental health disorder and individuals with a mental health disorder. This is consistent with other studies as shown above. The audience of this study is the public with permission from the Department of Justice and Attorney General, the state of New South Wales. This study is useful in my research because most of the violence is reported to the police and prison offence data is one of the most relevant sources of information. The strength of this study is the ability to use the Mental Health survey data with the NSW re-offending database five years prior to imprisonment and two years after release to give a detailed study. The data also uses prisoners only with no general population respondents therefore it is biased. However, this is also a limiting factor because the data is indicative of re-offences and not the actual offences. In addition to strength, the respondents used represent a large sample size. It also divides the mental health problems in their various sub-groups. However, there is the limitation of using the New South Wales prisoners and only those that participated in the Mental Health Survey. Therefore, the results may not be used to generalise the entire New South Wales prisoners and neither that of the entire country. The data The research is also presented in simple English with no medical jargon to illustrate. Therefore, a layperson can understand it with ease. The research was concluded and published in 2010 May therefore it is two years old as of May 2013. Jeffrey, W.S, Marvin, S. S., Susan, E. M., Fred, O. C., Wagner, R, Lisa, A. G., Stanley, D. R., & Keith, G. M. (2002). The socio-environmental context of violent behaviour in persons treated for severe mental illness. American Journal of Public Health, 92 (9), 1523-1531. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of violence among individuals with mental health illnesses. The study was intended for the general population and researchers investigating the prevalence of violence among mentally ill patients. The data used was part of a sexually transmitted diseases and behaviour investigation among patients under treatment in public health centres across four states in the US. The subjects had major mood disorders and psychotic disorders. Logistic regression was used to analyse the data and the results discussed in simple English for the layperson to understand. 802 respondents were used in the survey. The respondents had 45.4% comorbid substance disorders, 44.8% Schizophrenia, 11.3% major depression, 16.9% bipolar disorder, 19.5% Schizoaffective disorders. The study concluded that 13% of the respondents committed violent acts. About 8% of the respondents with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders committed violence. About 19% of respondents with mood disorders committed violent acts. This results are consistent with most studies that majority of mentally ill patients do not commit violent acts. The study also found that rarely does violence occur without a mediating factor such as victimisation and a history of domestic violence. This is consistent with the Elbogen and Johnson study on the link between violence and mental disorder. With such factors put aside, individuals with mental health problems have an increased risk of only 2% or less to commit violent offences. The general population with no mental illnesses have a 1% increased risk to commit the same offences. This research is important to my research because it proves that it is wrong to conclude that people with mental health problems have an increased risk of violence offences. The authors Jeffrey, W. S., Wagner, R., and Marvin, S. S. are with Duke University Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, and Behavioural Sciences. Susan is with Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and Veterans Affairs New York Healthcare System. Fred, O. C. is with University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Lisa is with Boston College, department of Psychology. Stanley, D. R., is with Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Psychiatry. Keith, G. M. is with Duke University Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry, and Behavioural Sciences. The research was accepted in 2001 October and published in 2002 September. The strength of the study is that it does not generalise individuals with mental health problems and it used data from four states not one. The study is limited in that it only included mentally ill patients. There was no control variable in people without mental illnesses. The study also relied exclusively on self-reports in gaining personal information. This report may have been biased considering that the mental status of the individuals is questionable. Read More