PsychEd Episode 51: Mental Illness and Violence with Dr. Robert McMaster and Dr. Ragy Girgis

Welcome to PsychEd — the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers the “big picture” relationship between violence and severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar spectrum disorders. Our guest experts in this episode are Dr. Robert McMaster, Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Dr. Ragy R. Girgis, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York.

This episode is a good companion to Episode 15: Managing Aggression and Agitation with Dr. Jodi Lofchy, which covers how to identify and manage acute risk of violence in a clinical setting.

The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:

By the end of this episode, you should be able to…

1. Describe the epidemiology of violence in severe mental illness (rates of perpetration vs. victimization, risk factors, quality of evidence) 

2. Understand and critique how society currently addresses violence in those with severe mental illness 

3. Discuss this topic with patients, caregivers and the public, and address common myths 

Guests: 

• Dr. Robert McMaster - Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Toronto

• Dr. Ragy R. Girgis - Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York

Hosts: Dr. Alex Raben (Staff Psychiatrist), Dr. Gaurav Sharma (PGY4), Sena Gok(IMG), Josh Benchaya (CC4)

Audio editing by: Gaurav Sharma

Show notes by: Josh Benchaya, Gaurav Sharma, Sena Gok

 

Interview Content:

 

Learning Objectives: 02:29

Perceptions of Violence and Mental Illness: 03:53

Mental illness & Violence Link Evidence: 06:48

Violence Perpetration & Victimisation: 10:10

Risk of Violence Assessment (HCR 20 Model): 17:00

Mass Shootings & Mental Illness & Predictions: 20:30

Violence Risk Prediction: 25:25

Severe Mental Illness & Violence Risk Treatments: 29:40

Society’s approach to Severe Mental Illness & Violence Misperceptions: 38:30

Mental Illness and Violence Stigma: 45:03

Case Vignette & Approach: 46:44

Summary of the episode: 58:00

 

References:

 

de Mooij, L.D., Kikkert, M., Lommerse, N.M., Peen, J., Meijwaard, S.C., Theunissen, J., Duurkoop, P.W., Goudriaan, A.E., Van, H.L., Beekman, A.T. and Dekker, J.J., 2015. Victimization in adults with severe mental illness: prevalence and risk factors. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 207(6), pp.515-522.

Desmarais, S. L., Van Dorn, R. A., Johnson, K. L., Grimm, K. J., Douglas, K. S., & Swartz, M. S. (2014). Community violence perpetration and victimization among adults with mental illnesses. American journal of public health, 104(12), 2342-2349.

Metzl, J.M., Piemonte, J. and McKay, T., 2021. Mental illness, mass shootings, and the future of psychiatric research into American gun violence. Harvard review of psychiatry, 29(1), p.81.

 

Buchanan, A., Sint, K., Swanson, J. and Rosenheck, R., 2019. Correlates of future violence in people being treated for schizophrenia. A