March 15 AP Psych

Rates and symptoms of psychological disorders may vary by culture, but no known society is free of depression and schizophrenia

Public figures as well as every day people are feeling freer to "come out" and speak with candor about their struggles with disorders such as depression. The more contact people have with individiuals with disorders, the more acceptiing their attitudes are.

Too often people with disorders are portrayed as objects of humor or riducle, as homicidal maniacs, or as freaks. Apart from the few who experience threatening delusions and hallucinated vices that command a violent act, mental disorders seldom lead to violence.

A 1999 US Justice Department study found that about 16% of US jail and prison inmates had severe mental disorders - this is roughly 100,000 more than 183,000 psychiatric inpatients in all types of US hospitals. Many people who have been executed or are now on death row have been limited by intellectual disabilities or motivated by delusional voices. The State of Arkansas forcibly medicated one murder with schizophrenia, Charles Singleton, with antipsychotic drugs - in order to make him mentally competent, so that he could then be put to death.