Drugs and alcohol, not mental illness, explains violent crime risk

Bipolar disorder by itself does not increase the risk of committing violent crime, suggests a new study by Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Instead, the over-representation of individuals with bipolar disorder in violent crime statistics is almost entirely attributable to concurrent drug or alcohol abuse. This mirrors arecent studyin schizophrenia by the same group which showed a minimal association with violent crime, unless there is also a drug or alcohol problem. 'In people without substance abuse problems, bipolar disorder is not a problem for violent crime,' says Dr Seena Fazel of the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University. The public debate on violent crime usually assumes that violence in the mentally ill is a direct result of the perpetrator's illness. However, it has previously been unclear if the violence is due to the bipolar disorder per se , or caused by other aspects of the individual's personality or lifestyle. Dr Fazel explains that reviewing all the available evidence suggests that the risk of violent crime among anyone in the general population who abuses drugs or alcohol is 6-8 times greater than those who don't.