12 October, 2009
MEDIA RELEASE
Public fear of the mentally ill misplaced
International study led by Sydney researchers shows homicides of strangers by people with
schizophrenia are exceptionally rare and unpredictable events
A study initiated by a team of Sydney researchers published today in the leading journal,
Schizophrenia Bulletin, shows that homicides of strangers by people diagnosed with schizophrenia
are exceptionally rare events.
The study is one in a series looking at homicide by the mentally ill conducted by two senior
lecturers in psychiatry at the University of New South Wales -- Dr Olav Nielssen at St Vincents
Hospital and Dr Matthew Large at Prince of Wales. This study is an international collaboration with
researchers in Canada, Finland and the Netherlands. An international multicentre study was
necessary as there were so few stranger homicides by people with mental illness in NSW in the last
15 years.
The study calculated a rate of stranger homicide by those with schizophrenia of one in 14 million
population per year in advanced countries. It also compared the characteristics of 42 patients who
killed strangers with a matched sample of patients who killed family members. The stranger
homicide offenders were more likely to be the homeless and to have a history of antisocial conduct.
The victims were more likely to be males and the offences rarely occurred in the victim’s home or
workplace. More than half of the subjects in both groups had never received treatment for
schizophrenia.
“The lack of any particular distinguishing features and the extremely low base rate means that it
would be impossible to predict who might commit this sort of offence and when they might occur”
said Dr Nielssen. “However, most of the patients in the study were not receiving treatment.
Providing earlier treatment to first episode patients and a good standard of care to all patients with
established illness could prevent some of these tragic events”.
“What the paper shows, more than anything else, is that the public fear of the mentally ill is
completely misplaced” said Dr Large. “These events are so rare that they are almost impossible to
study, yet the fear of serious violence by the mentally ill is a major cause of stigma”.
Reference: Olav Nielssen, Dominique Bourget, Taina Laajasalo, Marieke Liem, Alain Labelle, Helina
Hakkanen-Nyholm, Frans Koenraadt, and Matthew M. Large. Homicide of Strangers by People with a
Psychotic Illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp112
For more information or to organise an interview with Dr Olav Nielssen please contact David Faktor at
St Vincent’s Hospital on 8382 2866
NEWS 
