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Normally I debunk mental health data from niche publications like @TreatmentAdvCtr & @Medscape.
Not this time: I want to address a @washingtonpost study, & the countless major pubs like @VICE that cite its misleading mental health data.
Here we go:
1/10 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azkeb/police-are-the-first-to-respond-to-mental-health-crises-they-shouldnt-be
Not this time: I want to address a @washingtonpost study, & the countless major pubs like @VICE that cite its misleading mental health data.
Here we go:
1/10 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azkeb/police-are-the-first-to-respond-to-mental-health-crises-they-shouldnt-be
2/ That @VICE story cites this WaPo stat: "1 in 4 people killed by police in 2015 had a serious mental illness."
I've seen that stat before, in @alisa_roth's excellent book "Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness."
Last year, I looked the stat & study up . . .
I've seen that stat before, in @alisa_roth's excellent book "Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness."
Last year, I looked the stat & study up . . .
3/ I remember immediately noticing a problem w/the @washingtonpost study:
Their database relies, mostly, on ~1k news reports of fatal police shootings.
I read ~30 of the MI victim reports.
Many of the reports didn't prove the victim was mentally ill... https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/
Their database relies, mostly, on ~1k news reports of fatal police shootings.
I read ~30 of the MI victim reports.
Many of the reports didn't prove the victim was mentally ill... https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings/
4/ In fact, many of the news stories that, the @washingtonpost claimed, "reported" that the police shooting victim was "mentally ill," merely reported that the victim was suicidal.
I didn't do further research about the study at the time because I was busy w/other projects...
I didn't do further research about the study at the time because I was busy w/other projects...
5/ Then, yesterday, I saw the @vice article citing the same study, saying that 1 in 4 victims of police shootings are SERIOUSLY mentally ill.
So I spent about an hour digging into the news reports again.
I analyzed the first 10 MI shooting victim reports from the past year...
So I spent about an hour digging into the news reports again.
I analyzed the first 10 MI shooting victim reports from the past year...
6/ Of those 10 mentally ill victim reports from the @washingtonpost database, I only found 2 news stories that indicated the police shooting victim had a mental illness diagnosis.
8 of the 10 shooting victim reports did not provide evidence of a mental illness diagnosis . . .
8 of the 10 shooting victim reports did not provide evidence of a mental illness diagnosis . . .
7/ I didn't look at 99% of the shooting reports, so maybe the rest clearly show the victims had mental illnesses.
But I suspect that the evidence base in the other reports is just as poor, & that some "mentally healthy" shooting victims act similarly to "mentally ill" victims...
But I suspect that the evidence base in the other reports is just as poor, & that some "mentally healthy" shooting victims act similarly to "mentally ill" victims...
8/ This data discrepancy can't be that big of a deal, you might think.
It's semantics, right?
"What's so bad if we wrongly diagnose a few people who put themselves in wildly dangerous situations?" you may ask.
Well, there's actually a lot of bad that can come from it . . .
It's semantics, right?
"What's so bad if we wrongly diagnose a few people who put themselves in wildly dangerous situations?" you may ask.
Well, there's actually a lot of bad that can come from it . . .
9/ It's estimated 18-20% of Americans have a mental illness diagnosis.
If we are wrongly calculating that 25% of police shooting victims who put themselves & others in horribly dangerous situations ALSO have a mental illness - we are wrongly stigmatizing 18-20% of Americans.
If we are wrongly calculating that 25% of police shooting victims who put themselves & others in horribly dangerous situations ALSO have a mental illness - we are wrongly stigmatizing 18-20% of Americans.
10/ This incorrect stigmatization - that anyone with a mental illness might suddenly start firing a gun or lunging at cops w/a knife - could have real consequences.
1 obvious consequence is that police will overreact to 911 calls concerning people w/mental illness . . .
1 obvious consequence is that police will overreact to 911 calls concerning people w/mental illness . . .
11/ But there are plenty of other unintended consequences.
Mental health advocacy groups often talk about how it becomes harder to have conversations about mental illness w/ friends, family & publicly - for fear of being seen as potentially violent.
But there's so much more.
Mental health advocacy groups often talk about how it becomes harder to have conversations about mental illness w/ friends, family & publicly - for fear of being seen as potentially violent.
But there's so much more.
12/ I'm self-promoting here, but aren't we all?
I've written extensively about how groups like @TreatmentAdvCtr push out misleading stats like this @washingtonpost study to pass forced hospitalization & medication laws targeting people w/mental illness. https://www.madinamerica.com/author/michael_simonson/
I've written extensively about how groups like @TreatmentAdvCtr push out misleading stats like this @washingtonpost study to pass forced hospitalization & medication laws targeting people w/mental illness. https://www.madinamerica.com/author/michael_simonson/
13/ In January, I co-wrote an article w/ the amazing @leahida about how a lack of civil rights protections for people diagnosed with mental illness has resulted in large numbers of Americans, as young as 7, getting abused in psychiatric hospitals. https://www.madinamerica.com/2020/01/trump-dr-drew-wrong-deinstitutionalization/
14/ If you want to read more, I strongly recommend you check out @Mad_In_America.
Thanks for reading.
As always, I hope I got it right.
If not, let me know.
Thanks for reading.
As always, I hope I got it right.
If not, let me know.
Hat tip @lesliecarpent15 for tweeting about this story yesterday, and bringing it to my attention (though I'm not sure she'll agree with my takeaway).
