“1,200 killed by mental patients.” Today’s drooling Sun headline plays on precisely the kind of fearmongering that people with mental health problems have come to fear most, implying that they are violent, unstable monsters – as well as lazy benefit scroungers making up their illnesses in order to milk the system. The headline is entirely misleading. In fact, the most recent available figures show that “there has been a fall in homicide by people with mental illness, including people with psychosis” since 2004.
The Sun claims that, far from seeking to stigmatise the mentally ill, its cover story draws attention to how many have been let down by poor mental health provision over the past decade. That’s why it led with the sort of weary sensationalist headline that exploits prejudice against the sick and vulnerable to sell papers.
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