February 5, 1999

The tragedy of 29-year-old Kendra Webdale, who died after being pushed in front of a New York City subway train by a mentally deranged man on January 3, should not obscure the fact that the mentally ill are on average no more violent than other citizens, according to APA President Rodrigo Muņoz, M.D.

More than 97 percent of violent incidents are perpetrated by people without a diagnosable mental disorder, Muņoz told Psychiatric News. "When a psychiatric patient is involved in acts of violence, it is the patient who is likely to be the victim," he noted. "When the purported assailant has a mental illness, this becomes part of the news, which may cloud the issues."

The news media never mention other medical problems in crime reports, for example, "patient with diabetes robs bank" or "former pneumonia sufferer beats neighbor," observed Muņoz. This shows that "we have a long way to go in eliminating the intuitive inference that mental illness makes people dangerous," he added.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) issued a statement in response to the tragedy, mourning both the loss of Kendra Webdale and the condition of Daniel Goldstein, 32, the alleged killer, who was subsequently reported to have suffered from schizophrenia for more than a decade.

"We mourn the loss of a creative young woman who had such a promising future," said NAMI Executive Director Laurie Flynn. "We also honor the Webdale family's compassion and courage in seeking to turn the nightmare of her death into hope for mental health care reform."

In the aftermath of the death, Webdale's family was quoted as saying that the senseless killing showed a need for better care for the mentally ill.

Citing Goldstein's statement to police that "an overwhelming force took over" when he pushed Webdale, Flynn noted that such thoughts are symptomatic of schizophrenia. She further noted, however, that people who receive appropriate treatment for schizophrenia are no more prone to violence than the rest of the population.

In her statement, Flynn reiterated NAMI's policy that "four critical elements" are needed to help those with schizophrenia. Those elements are community-based care, assertive community treatment programs, outpatient treatment orders, and short-term involuntary inpatient commitment.

Citing Goldstein's attorney and media reports, Flynn pointed out that Goldstein had been through six unrelated treatment programs in six years and had stopped taking his medication. Patients with schizophrenia require continuity of care and regular monitoring for medication compliance, she noted.

"The Webdale-Goldstein tragedy is the latest in a series of high-profile cases in which Americans are learning about schizophrenia and the inadequacies of America's mental health care system in the worst possible way," Flynn concluded. "We join the Webdale family in prayers that as a society we will embrace a better way."