Podcast: Hospitals Against Violence: Debunking the Stereotype that Mental Illness = Violence

Rebecca B. Chickey, AHA Director, Section for Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Services sits down with Jeffrey W. Swanson PhD; Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Center for Child and Family Policy Faculty Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC to discuss the intersection of violence and mental illness and to debunk the popular stereotype that people with serious mental illnesses are generally dangerous.

Speaker Description: Jeffrey W. Swanson PhD; Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Center for Child and Family Policy Faculty Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. Dr. Swanson is a medical sociologist (PhD, Yale, 1985) with expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, mental health services effectiveness, and mental health law and policy studies. He is the author or co-author of over 200 research publications on topics including violence and severe mental illness, the impact of involuntary outpatient commitment law, and psychiatric advance directives.

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Additional Resources:

• Myth vs. Fact: Violence and Mental Health: A Q&A with an expert who studies the relationship between mental illness and violence, L. Beckett, ProPublica (June 10, 2014)
• Mental illness and reduction of gun violence and suicide: bringing epidemiologic research to policy, J.W. Swanson et al., Annals of Epidemiology (April 29, 2014)