Shoplifting and Mental Illness

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 300-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Lamontagne ◽  
Normand Carpentier ◽  
Céline Hetu ◽  
Céline Lacerte-Lamontagne

A survey of 1,649 shoplifting convictions at a Montreal area municipal court found that a relatively low percentage (3.2%) of the cases involved mentally ill patients and that there is a comparatively closer link between shoplifting and affective disorders, alcoholism and drug addiction. The survey also showed that shoplifting is related more to mental illness than to the use of psychotropic drugs. The authors therefore reject the hypothesis of pharmacogenic shoplifting which has been reported in some studies on small numbers of shoplifters.

1987 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-52
Author(s):  
Ellen Wright Clayton

AbstractMany individuals with mental illness wish to avoid psychotropic drugs, a type of treatment that may relieve their symptoms only at the risk of unpleasant, even permanent, side effects. In marked contrast to the widely-held view that most patients may refuse any treatment and that even patients with mental illness may reject other psychoactive interventions such as electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery, the courts and legislatures have been slow to recognize any right to refuse psychotropic drugs. This Article demonstrates that many of the justifications offered for forcing patients to take unwanted medications are inadequate and that unless treatment refusals are reviewed outside mental institutions, patients’ rights will rarely receive appropriate deference. The author analyzes the federal and state litigation to determine whether the courts have fashioned meaningful relief for the mentally ill. The Article concludes that two recent United States Supreme Court decisions have made it impossible for the federal courts to provide adequate protection. By contrast, several state courts have responded to the needs and rights of patients with mental illness.


Author(s):  
John W. Newcomer

In 2006, investigators compiled data from the public mental health systems of eight states in the USA and compared life expectancy for patients with a major mental illness with general population values. Focusing on states with outpatient as well as inpatient data, this study indicated that individuals with a major mental illness have a mean age at death that is 25–30 years earlier than that observed in the general population over the same years in the same states (1). In this study, ‘major mental illness’ included affective disorders such as major depression and bipolar disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorders. Importantly, these data indicated that the leading cause of death in the mentally ill is coronary heart disease (CHD) and when death due to stroke or cerebrovascular disease is included in a category of cardiovascular disease (CVD), they account for more than 35% of deaths in this population. Suicide, by contrast, was responsible for fewer than 5% of deaths overall. Such observations have led to growing clinical interest in the cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors that contribute to the major causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with psychotic disease, as exemplified by schizophrenia.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Rajni Suri ◽  
Anshu Suri ◽  
Neelam Kumari ◽  
Amool R. Singh ◽  
Manisha Kiran

The role of women is very crucial in our society. She cares for her parents, partner, children and other relatives. She performs all types of duties in family and also in the society without any expectations. Because of playing many roles, women often face many challenges in their life including both physical and mental. Mental health problems affect women and men equally, but some problems are more common among women including both physical and mental health problems. Aim of the study - The present study is aimed to describe and compare the clinical and socio-demographic correlates of female mentally ill patients. Methods and Materials: The study includes 180 female mentally ill patients based on cross sectional design and the sample for the study was drawn purposively. A semi structured socio-demographic data sheet was prepared to collect relevant information as per the need of the study. Result: The present study reveals that the socio-demographic factors contribute a vital role in mental illness. Findings also showed that majority of patients had mental problems in the age range of 20-30 have high rate. Illiterate and primary level of education and daily wage working women as well as low and middle socio-economic status women are more prone to have mental illness. Other factors like marital status, type of family and religion etc also important factors for mental illness. Keywords: Socio demographic profile, female, psychiatric patient


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Gregory Mercier ◽  
Azim Shariff ◽  
Adam Norris

Objective: We test whether prejudice can influence lay attributions of mental illness to perpetrators of violence. Specifically, we examine whether people with negative attitudes towards Muslims perceive Muslim mass shooters as less mentally ill than non-Muslim shooters. Method: Study 1 compares attributions of mental illness to Muslim and non-Muslim perpetrators of recent mass shootings. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally test whether a mass shooter described in a news article is seen as less mentally ill when described as being a Muslim, compared to when described as a Christian (Study 2) and to when religion is not mentioned (Study 3). Study 4 tests whether a Muslim shooter is seen as less mentally ill than a Christian shooter, even when both shooters have symptoms of mental illness. Results: In all studies, Muslim shooters were seen as less mentally ill than non-Muslim shooters, but only by those with negative views towards Muslims. Conclusion: Those with anti-Muslim prejudices perceive Muslim mass shooters as less mentally ill, likely to maintain culpability and fit narratives about terrorism. This may reinforce anti-Muslim attitudes by leading those with anti-Muslim prejudice to overestimate the amount of violence inspired by groups like ISIS relative to extremist groups from other ideologies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402199006
Author(s):  
Sailaxmi - Gandhi ◽  
Sangeetha Jayaraman ◽  
Thanapal Sivakumar ◽  
Annie P John ◽  
Anoop Joseph ◽  
...  

Background: Clientele’s attitude toward Persons with Mental Illness (PwMI) changes over a period of time. The aim of this study was to explore and understand how and whether perception about PwMI changes when they are seen working like persons without mental illness among those availing services of ROSes café at NIMHANS, Bengaluru. Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted with purposive sampling. Community Attitude toward Mentally Ill (CAMI) a self -administered questionnaire of was administered to measure the clientele attitude towards staff with mental illness in ROSes Café (Recovery Oriented Services). A total of 256 subjects availing services from the ROSes café recruited in the study. Chi-square and Mann–Whitney U test was computed to see the association and differences on selected variables. Results: The present study results showed that subjects had a positive attitude seen in health care professionals in the domains of benevolence (BE) (28.68 ± 3.00) and community mental health ideology (CMHI) (31.53 ± 3.19), whereas non-health care professionals had showed negative attitude in the domain of authoritarianism (AU) (30.54 ± 3.42) and social restrictiveness (SR) (30.18 ± 3.05). Education, employment, marital, income, and working status were significantly associated with CAMI domains. Conclusion: PwMI also can work like people without mental illness when the opportunities are provided. The community needs to regard mental illness in the same manner as chronic physical illness diabetes mellitus and allow PwMI to live a life of dignity by creating and offering opportunities to earn livelihood which would help them recover with their illnesses.


1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 158-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Timms

People with mental illness have always been marginalised and economically disadvantaged. Warner (1987) has shown that this is particularly true in times of high unemployment. Poor inner-city areas have excessive rates of severe mental illness, usually without the health, housing and social service provisions necessary to deal with them (Faris & Dunham, 1959). The majority of those who suffer major mental illness live in impoverished circumstances somewhere along the continuum of poverty. Homelessness, however defined, is the extreme and most marginalised end of this continuum, and it is here that we find disproportionate numbers of the mentally ill.


2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Ignatius Ukpong ◽  
Festus Abasiubong

<p><strong>Background.</strong> The burden of mental illness is particularly severe for people living in low-income countries. Negative attitudes towards the mentally ill, stigma experiences and discrimination constitute part of this disease burden.</p><p><strong>Objective.</strong> The aim of this study was to investigate knowledge of possible causes of mental illness and attitudes towards the mentally ill in a Nigerian university teaching hospital population.</p><p><strong>Method.</strong> A cross-sectional descriptive study of a convenience sample of 208 participants from the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Nigeria, using the Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale. Information was also obtained on beliefs about possible causes of mental illness. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results.</strong> The respondents held strongly negative views about the mentally ill, mostly being authoritarian and restrictive in their attitudes and placing emphasis on custodial care. Even though the respondents appeared to be knowledgeable about the possible role of psychosocial and genetic factors in the causation of mental illness, 52.0% of them believed that witches could be responsible, 44.2% thought mental illness could be due to possession by demons, and close to one-third (30%) felt that it could be a consequence of divine punishment.</p><p><strong>Conclusions.</strong> Stigma and discrimination against the mentally ill are widespread even in a population that is expected to be enlightened. The widespread belief in supernatural causation is likely to add to the difficulties of designing an effective anti-stigma psycho-educational programme. There is a need in Nigeria to develop strategies to change stigma attached to mental illness at both institutional and community levels.</p>


1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1027-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorna I. Hogg ◽  
Max Marshall

SynopsisHostels for the homeless contain many who are disabled by chronic mental illness but have little access to rehabilitation services. One approach to solving this problem might be to measure the needs of hostel residents in a standardized way and use this information as a basis for planning interventions. This study attempted to use the MRC Needs for Care Assessment Schedule to measure the needs of 46 mentally ill residents of Oxford hostels. It aimed to determine if a standardized assessment could be used in these difficult settings and if the needs it identified could form a useful basis for planning future interventions. Although it was possible to use the schedule, and although the pattern of need identified appeared broadly to reflect conditions in the hostels, it was not felt that the information produced was of sufficient quality to assist in planning services. The authors postulate that underlying this deficiency is the failure of the schedule to take sufficient account of the views of staff and residents.


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