Truths and myths about mental illness

The stigma of mental illness and links between mental illness and violence were explored Wednesday morning on KROC-AM during the Rochester Today show.

Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center Clinical Director Heather Geerts graciously agreed to join Tracy McCray and Andy Brownell in the KROC-AM studio for what proved to be an illuminating discussion of mental illness.

The genesis of the program was the recent arrest of a Waseca teenager on charge he plotted to murder his family and kill his classmates and staff at Waseca High School. In an interview with police, 17-year-old John LaDue calmly stated that his actions were the result of an undefined mental illness that had been present for years, but missed by his family and others close to him.

Was that an attempt to solicit sympathy, or a suggestion that a mental illness could be an excuse?

While she declined to specifically discuss the Waseca case, Geerts suggests using mental illness to explain mass shootings and other acts of violence is part of a natural human need to find a reason for the incomprehensible,

"I think there are times where people in our society have been conditioned to think that automatically that if you have a mental illness that you automatically don't have the ability to know right from wrong. And that is a myth." 

Geerts says that reinforces the stigma surrounding mental illness, which makes it less likely a person needing help will seek treatment and increase the chances that person's condition could worsen and result in a severe mental disorder.

She also pointed out research has shown a person with a mental illness is much more likely to be the victim of a crime than the perpetrator of a crime.

You can listen to the entire show by clicking the play button...