Movies Sterotyping The Mentlly Ill

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             e FBI's Behavorial Science Unit "the majority of crimes in America are committed by people with all levels of functioning and personality types. only a small portion (states 3%) of violence in American society can be attributed to mental illness!" Says Mr. DeShazor: "Despite the infrequency in display of violence with the mentally-ill, mental disorder and violence are closer linked in the public mind." (Violence and Mental Illness). And ironically, according to Phil Donahue's national best-seller The Human Animal, "3% of all murders committed in the United States are committed by parents who murder their own children", and yet I know of no law which forces parents to take medications or to receive "treatment." Is this because most people would realize how ludicrous it would be to scapegoat 97% of parents because of the behavior of the other 3%? And according to a 1993 University of California study on the prevalence of behavioral disorders in the United States in the mid-198!.
             0's, being laid off from a job was a much more significant factor in determining the risk of potentially violent behavior than having a history of "mental illness!" So the actual facts diametrically oppose the media propaganda and the ironic truth is that the overwhelming majority of people labeled "mentally-ill" are not violent!!! Just like the overwhelming majority of postal employees are not violent and have never executed their co-workers. Just like the overwhelming majority of high school students are not violent and have never slaughtered their classmates. Just like the overwhelming majority of police officers are not violent and have never engaged in acts of police brutality. The sad irony is that according to ABC.com mental health recipients are more often the victims of violent crimes rather than the perpertratorsof violent crimes.
             Exposing the movies role in promoting the stigma associated with mental illness and to challengeing the media's deliberate portrayal of people labeled mentally-ill as violent and deranged is essential to help the mentally ill in recovery.