This is not to say that fear and avoidance are necessarily irrational. Mental health advocates and antistigma campaigners may not want to hear this, but the data are clear. People with untreated mental illness are more likely to be irrational, disruptive, and, yes, violent than people without SMI. Usually that violence is self-directed, leading to suicide or self-injury. And the data are equally compelling that people treated for a mental illness are not more likely to be violent than those without mental illness.
