Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews / 25.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aaron Kivisto, Ph.D., HSPP Licensed Psychologist Co-Director, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology University of Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN 46227 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There’s a robust literature showing that increased gun ownership rates are associated with increased rates of firearm homicide and suicide. We sought to examine whether the increased risk of homicide attributable to firearms is equally distributed across the population of potential victims or whether the risk is localized to particular victim groups. Our findings showed that the risk of gun ownership is fairly localized to intimate partners and other family members; they’re bearing the bulk of the risk associated with gun ownership. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Lancet, Mental Health Research / 18.06.2014

Professor Louis Appleby Professor of Psychiatry C.B.E The University of Manchester in the UKMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Louis Appleby Professor of Psychiatry C.B.E The University of Manchester in the UK   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Professor Appleby: “Patients with mental illness are two and a half times more likely to be victims of homicide than people in the general population according to our research published in The Lancet Psychiatry today. “In this study, the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCI), based at The University of Manchester, examined data on the victims and perpetrators of all homicides in England and Wales between January, 2003 and December, 2005. We found that during the 3-year study period, 1496 people were victims of homicide, and 6% (90) of them had been under the care of mental health services in the year before their death. A third (29) of these patient victims were killed by other patients with mental illness. In 23 homicides in which the victim was a mental health patient killed by another mental health patient, the victim and the perpetrator were known to each other either as partners (9, 35%), family members (4, 15%), or acquaintances (10, 38%). In 21 of these 23 cases, both the victims and perpetrators were undergoing treatment at the same National Health Service Trust. Alcohol and drug misuse (victims 66%, perpetrators 93%) and a history of violence (victims 24%, perpetrators 24%) were common among both patient victims and perpetrators. The study also found that in the 3 years to 2005, 213 mental health patients were convicted of homicide—accounting for 12% of all homicide convictions.” (more…)