The Ghost of Christmas Past

First published 23/12/06. Edited for 2007.

Christmas is an incredibly lonely time for many people. Unlike any other time of the year the world seems to stop spinning and everything comes to a halt. In this country at least, this includes mental health services. This is just too much to cope with for some people; just knowing that no one is there for them if they need someone can cause an increase in anxiety. (See this news article)

Traditionally, it is a time for family and friends to come together. But some people don’t have any family. Many will be remembering lost loved ones, and some will be grieving new losses. Elderly ones in particular may have lost their spouses, siblings, and friends. Sick ones may struggle to form lasting friendships. For all of these ones, knowing that others are enjoying the company of people they love and who love them can make them feel more isolated than ever.

"The Silent Night" by Philippa King

For some people, going to the shops each day provides the human contact that everyone needs. But the shops are closed. I know people with mental health difficulties who wander around town all day, preferring the company of strangers than no company at all. How will it be for those ones when the town centre is completely deserted? When there is no one on that bench to chat to; no playing children to laugh at; no struggling mothers to joke with?

This weekend people may be writing a list of all their final arrangements, or their last minute shopping needs. Why not write a list of people who you know live alone? Maybe they’re elderly ones; maybe they have an illness of one kind or another. Maybe give them a ring just to show that they’re not forgotten. Maybe pop round for a cuppa and take them a slice of cake. At the very least you may just make someones day. Or you could even save a life. Maybe.

Violence and Schizophrenia – Part Two

As previously discussed, and as confirmed by the comments received, Schizophrenia sufferers are often the victims of violent intrusive thoughts. But are people with Schizophrenia violent?

If your opinions are easily swayed by headline news then you would probably conclude that they are. I am aware that within the town I live in, stabbings and murder are far more common than I would like, but rarely – if ever – does it reach national news. The only type of killings that do reach national headlines are the ones that are particularly shocking in some way – a child perhaps; a whole family; or a murder committed by someone with mental health problems. Now there’s a headline.

With so much media coverage every time a person with mental health problems commits a murder, it’s no wonder that people think they are all mad, axe wielding murderers. In fact, as few as 50 murders a year in the UK are recorded as being committed by someone with mental health problems, compared to 1,300 suicides – when it is said that people with Schizophrenia are more likely to hurt themselves, it’s true.

95% of murders are committed by “sane” people. My guess is that of those 5% of murders which are recorded as being committed by people with mental health problems, many of them could have been prevented, and many of them would have been committed whether the person suffered from mental illness or not. Why do I say that?

It is a myth that people with Schizophrenia will suddenly “snap” and become violent. Uninformed (and even misinformed) individuals still believe that people with Schizophrenia have a split personality and will switch without warning between the two. Often people believe that whilst one of their personalities may appear “normal” the other is often psychopathic. The truth is that people with Schizophrenia only have a “split mind” in the sense that they are split from reality, with principle symptoms of Schizophrenia being delusions and hallucinations. If suffering from Schizophrenia was really the cause of a person committing murder it would be because of these delusions and hallucinations. The person would probably have a strong belief that he or she was acting in self defence, as many delusions include feelings of persecution.

It is thought that maybe only 1% of the 1% of people who suffer from Schizophrenia commit violent crime.

"True Figures" by Philippa King

Of course, with adequate mental health care this situation should be rare. Although symptoms can progress quickly in a person with Schizophrenia, we are talking about a matter of days or weeks rather than minutes or hours. Before a person ever deteriorates to the point of acting on their belief that they have to kill in order to protect themselves or their family, the deterioration should have been recognised and intervention should already have taken place.

But as I said earlier, many of those murders which are committed by people with mental health problems may have occurred anyway. A diagnosis of Schizophrenia, or any mental illness, does not define a person or their personality. Like any other illness, Schizophrenia is indiscriminate and can affect people from all walks of life, different upbringings, and different personalities. It stands to reason then, that with as many as 1 in every 100 people suffering from Schizophrenia, at least some of them will have a criminal mind. Add to the equation the fact that illegal drug usage can induce Schizophrenia, and it’s easy to see that many of those murderers could already have been on a criminal path even before the onset of their illness.

Obviously, the job of their solicitor, if the crime is undeniable, would be to negotiate the shortest prison sentence possible, and if that means playing on a persons mental health – whether relevant or not – they will do so.

So taking these things into account, I wonder what the true figure should be of those who commit murder because of their mental health. And how many more could be prevented? Also, are we really in more danger of being murdered by a person suffering from Schizophrenia – whose condition should be closely monitored by a Community Mental Health Team – rather than your average bad tempered driver, a group of drunken youths, or even that friendly and polite neighbour of yours who hides bodies under the floor boards?

Related Posts: Violence and Schizophrenia - Part One, Violence and Schizophrenia - Comments from Readers

Violence and Schizophrenia – Part One

I’ve only ever really skimmed over the symptoms of Schizophrenia in my blog. To be honest, there are so many websites that list the diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia already, and probably far more accurately and eloquently than I ever could. When you are a sufferer of Schizophrenia though, or care for someone who is a sufferer, you realise that there are other common symptoms which are not listed as part of the diagnostic criteria, but are suffered none the less. One of these symptoms is intrusive thoughts. What do I mean by that?

I don’t mean the compulsive thoughts that Mr Man often struggles with. Compulsive thoughts are similar to what is experienced by a person suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – an obsessive compulsion to carry out often ritualistic behaviour accompanied by anxiety. For Mr Man these compulsive thoughts present themselves as obsessive counting in his head, and re-arranging things in order. When we had some children’s building bricks in the living room he had compulsive thoughts to build them into a symmetrical shape, dismantle them, and then rebuild them again. Trying to resist this compulsive thought caused him a lot of anxiety until eventually we decided to put the bricks away out of view.

The intrusive thoughts that Mr Man experiences cause him anxiety for very different reasons. These thoughts are very violent in nature, and he describes them as being inserted into his brain as if by an outside source. It is precisely because these thoughts do not reflect his own feelings that they cause him so much anxiety, rather than it being the strain of resisting such thoughts. These violent thoughts are not temporarily accompanied by a surge of anger which could tempt the sufferer into acting upon them; neither are these callous thoughts with no feeling for the victim; rather, they are unwanted thoughts that cause the sufferer a great deal of anxiety as they have no desire to act on them. They are as unwelcome as the frightening hallucinations a Schizophrenia sufferer experiences.

"Intrusive Thoughts" by Philippa King

When Mr Man was at his worst, he had intrusive thoughts of killing me and cutting me up into pieces. He said he also saw himself doing it on a sort of screen in front of him. Was I scared? Not at all. Should I have been? Should I have been afraid of a man who had never raised his voice to me let alone his hand, and who sobbed and shook with grief at the thought of carrying out such atrocities? I never feared that he would ever act on these thoughts. In reality these intrusive thoughts caused him far more anxiety than they ever caused me; my only concern was how traumatic the experience was for him.

As I said though, this is not a symptom I have ever read about. Maybe this is why when Mr Man explained what he was experiencing to the staff in the hospital they didn’t believe him – they actually thought it was an act and that he simply wanted to kill me. He was told that if he killed me he would be held responsible for his actions and he couldn’t “get away with it” by claiming mental illness. My goodness, they must have had some good actors on the ward if they thought this was an act, because I have never seen a man so distraught in my life. Their suggestion that these thoughts were his own desires only distressed him further.

I know another Schizophrenia sufferer who has also experienced very violent intrusive thoughts. She also finds them very distressing. Although describing them in exactly the same way as Mr Man – as being inserted into her brain by an outside source and feeling that they are not her own thoughts – she feared that she was actually a bad person and felt a lot of guilt over it. She never told anyone at the hospital about these thoughts, and no one ever asked her because, I suppose, it is not part of their diagnostic criteria. It would have been helpful for her to know that what she was experiencing was part of her illness though.

I think it’s important to note that although Mr Man has struggled with, and eventually acted on compulsive thoughts and command hallucinations, he has never acted on these unwanted intrusive thoughts.

Does the presence of compulsive and intrusive thoughts mean that people with Schizophrenia are more likely to be violent? Are they “on the edge”, ready to snap at any moment? This will be discussed in the following article.

Related Posts: Violence and Schizophrenia - Part Two, Violence and Schizophrenia - Comments from Readers