Quick question. Does this really happen with mental patients?

[The Buff OP]

I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this (I think it is). My brother was telling me a story about his friend that works at a mental institution and his friend said that everyday he needs to take different paths to his house because some mental patients act like they are normal, but they are not, then they try to do harm to the employees or doctors that worked on them.

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[cab1234]

I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this (I think it is). My brother was telling me a story about his friend that works at a mental institution and his friend said that everyday he needs to take different paths to his house because some mental patients act like they are normal, but they are not, then they try to do harm to the employees or doctors that worked on them.

The mentally ill as a whole are not dangerous, despite what the media will tell you. They are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of crime.

 

[The Buff OP]

The mentally ill as a whole are not dangerous, despite what the media will tell you. They are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of crime.

So like only mentally ill offenders would try to doing harm?

 

[cab1234]

So like only mentally ill offenders would try to doing harm?

Not sure how you deduced that from my post?

 

[The Buff OP]

Not sure how you deduced that from my post?

It's almost 4AM over here. lol lets leave it at that. Good night.

 

[WisNeuro]

As cab said, mental illness does not predispose someone towards violent behavior. Large scale epidemiological studies suggest that the mentally ill DO NOT commit violence at higher rates than people without mental illness. See the MacArthur study, probably the largest and most methodologically sound of the studies. But, a scab also said, the mentally ill are at a greater risk of being the VICTIMS of violence. This stigmatization is just a stereotype and base rate bias problem, not a real thing.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I personally don't want patients to know where I live but that is for a variety of reasons with fear of violence or crime being the least of those. Unfortunately, in a small town many of them do find out, but the vast majority are very respectful of my privacy and personal life. It is sort of funny that when I meet patients in public, they act as though it is my confidentiality that they have to protect. Alleviating their anxiety about that and how they want to acknowledge or not acknowledge me is a part of what we have to discuss in session. Kids are great because they will just come running up to me with no thought whatsoever!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Kids are great because they will just come running up to me with no thought whatsoever!

This happened to me once in a Target…and the child's mother looked mortified. The child was part of a research study I did, though I think I only interacted with the child's father. I work primarily with a TBI population, so if I run into a former patient out in public I usually get a similar uninhibited response. I don't offer ongoing services like individual/group therapy (only neuropsych evals), so it feels a bit different.

 

[463951]

I'm sorry if this is not the right place to post this (I think it is). My brother was telling me a story about his friend that works at a mental institution and his friend said that everyday he needs to take different paths to his house because some mental patients act like they are normal, but they are not, then they try to do harm to the employees or doctors that worked on them.

I don't understand this. Why would he need to take different paths to his house? For the most part, patients in a mental health institution are not allowed to leave the grounds. They do not have cars. There are exceptions of course (e.g., an NGRI patient released after many years and has to check in on an outpatient basis once a month as part of their conditional release).

 

[The Buff OP]

I don't understand this. Why would he need to take different paths to his house? For the most part, patients in a mental health institution are not allowed to leave the grounds. They do not have cars. There are exceptions of course (e.g., an NGRI patient released after many years and has to check in on an outpatient basis once a month as part of their conditional release).

IDK lol It must of been a BS story from his friend.