Has anyone else noticed criminal behavior being increasingly attributed to mental ill

As if mentally ill people are all self centered, murderous monsters, the media and those with no professional license to diagnose have taken to attributing all socially acceptable, illegal and/or morally reprehensible behavior to mental illness.

Last week a rapper murdered his wife and then himself; commenters on the story swore depression led him to commit the crimes. In another popular story this week, a celebrity told tales of his sexual exploits and past temper issues and commenters in the media (and on message boards) were quick to declare him bipolar. Even worse, mass shooting perpetrators are almost always assumed to be mentally ill. The worst of them being the Newtown shooter who the media says was officially autistic - which would not make him mentally ill. Yet and still he's often referred to, incorrectly, as a person who suffered from mental illness, because only a mental illness would lead him to massacre small children, right? This is really upsetting me. It is almost like MI is increasingly becoming synonymous with immorality or depravity in the same way that the term "gay" has become a synonym for bad in general conversation.

Where is the line? The vast majority of those ailed by mental illness do not murder, abuse or otherwise harm people. Yet everyday language is helping to further stigma by criminalizing us.

This really upsetting me and since I'm not terribly open with people IRL about my diagnosis, I have no one to discuss it with.

Is anyone else noticing this?

Yes, I have noticed and it infuriates me.

I have to admit that I don't pay much attention to the news anymore. So I guess I honestly couldn't say. Occasionally I'll catch a local TV news program. I recall, a while back, there was a story about a "catch phrase" that made the rounds of TV sports reporters. The phrase was something to the effect: "boom goes the dynamite." Apparently some reporter, somewhere used this phrase. Almost overnight, nearly every TV sports reporter was saying: "boom goes the dynamite" any time there was some big play! I think this is indicative of what happens.

Reporters are just like a bunch of chimpanzees: monkey-see, monkey-do. They copy each other. In the example above, it's just silliness. But of course when it comes to attributing every terrible thing that occurs to mental illness, this can have tragic consequences. Unfortunately there is no line. These news media types pretty-much just keep grinding out the same old gruel. About the only thing that can be done, I think, is for everyone who is concerned to challenge these questionable attributions whenever & wherever they crop up. Perhaps what we need is a mental health "truth squad"

"More than 70% of the prison population has two or more mental health disorders. (Social Exclusion Unit, 2004, quoting Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners In England And Wales, 1998)"

Source: Mental Health Statistics: Prisons

The use of the word "disorder" should be noted. ADHD is a disorder, not a true mental illness, though it's often counted as one. I realize that the same can be said for GAD, following my reasoning, but GAD is very different from ADHD. That said, disorders associated with behavior such as ADHD (or even ADD) tend to predispose persons afflicted by them to behavior that's not socially acceptable or otherwise deemed inappropriate. This is because things like impulsivity, frequent movement, lack of empathy etc. are inherent of those disorders. However, I highly doubt that 70% prisoners suffer from actual mental illnesses. Let's keep in mind that mental illness diagnoses make criminals eligible for lighter sentences. Additionally, allowing people to think that criminals are simply mentally ill allows lawmakers invested in jailing for profit to do so with little to no challenge from the public since they're perceived to be doing the world a favor by locking up the "crazies."

I think mental/disorder/illness/psychiatric are used interchangeably in the UK when discussing policy.

It is widely accepted that locking up people with mental disorders of any sort is futile (Bradley Report http://www.mac-uk.org/wped/wp-conten...ec-Summary.pdf), but to treat them would cost money (and is not exactly a vote-winner compared to schools and hospitals): mental health in prisons

However, even the current government is supportive: https://www.gov.uk/government/speech...custody-speech

I'm American so my take is informed by that. I'm not knowledgeable about how the UK handles mental illnesses and disorders.

Not nearly as well as it should...

Here I was thinking the stigma surrounding mental illness was decreasing, but it seems the opposite is true. Now that you mention it, I have noticed it, and it is tragic. I mean, most people on this site are mentally ill and they're some of the nicest people I've met on the Internet.

Mental illness is a part of us, but it does not define who we are. People who suffer from a mental illness are no less complex than the rest of society. People who commit heinous crimes like murder, rape, etc. are certainly messed up, and they may be mentally ill, but I highly doubt that the mental illness is what leads them to commit such acts.

I'll use myself as an example of being messed up a few years back, but not mentally ill. A few years ago, I found the infamous "Yelling At Cats" video hilarious. It's basically a 2006 YouTube video where somebody screams verbal abuse at his cats for no reason. The worst offender is when he screams "YOU ARE A F**KING PIECE OF S**T! I'M GOING TO RAPE YOU!" I thought this was so funny back in the day, but now I don't find the video funny at all, and see it as a classic example of the cruelty of the Internet.

When will this end? When will people wake up and realise that mental illness does not cause people to commit heinous crimes, just as I woke up and realised that "Yelling At Cats" is not funny? The people here are so nice and kind, so why should they suffer from the stigma? It just is not fair, at all!