NY Times on violence and mentally ill

Would that everyone would talk about violence and mental illness as cogently as Dr. Bruce Link.

Dr. Link highlights the problem in the New York Times' careful coverage of the tragic death of Dr. Wayne Fenton ...

Violence is less common among those with mental illnesses than is sometimes assumed. Many people with schizophrenia are withdrawn, more likely to be targets of an assault than to commit one, said Bruce Link, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia.

But studies suggest that those with untreated psychosis — often characterized by intense paranoia and imaginary voices issuing commands — are at least two to three times as likely as people without mental disorders to get into physical altercations, including fights using weapons, Dr. Link said.