When an ex-mental patient commits a crime, headline writers always notice.

News accounts rarely say if a murder suspect has diabetes or cancer, is a vegetarian or Episcopalian. But any sign of mental illness - say, a bottle of antidepressants in the Unabomber suspects cabin - jumps to the top of the story.

High-profile crimes involving mental patients - from John Hinckleys attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 to the murder of two nuns this year in Maine - reinforce the notion that mental illness equals violence.

But some studies show that people with mental illness are no more violent than people in general. And studies that do show an elevated risk of violence find an increase no greater than the difference in violent tendencies between men and women, or teen-agers and adults.

"If you want to protect yourself from violence, you would do just as well to avoid men and teenagers as you would to avoid people with mental illness," says Bruce Link, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Columbia University School of Public Health in New York.

Drug and alcohol abuse are much more likely than other mental illnesses to be linked with violence, new data indicate. Furthermore, research shows that aggressive community treatment-prevention programs result in low repeat offence rates for mental patients who do commit crimes. Such programs require additional funds for social service agencies up front, but far less than the money spent to process repeat offenders through the criminal justice system, says psychologist Sheilagh Hodgins.

"Mental health professionals do know what to do in order to prevent violence, but they have to have the resources to be able to do that," she says.

Yet, mental health advocates say, the misperception of the mentally ill as violent and dangerous diminishes support for such social services. "There's only so much of the social service pie, and the stigma and misunderstanding about mental illnesses...enables a lot of neglect," says Michael Faenza, president of the National Mental Health Association, based in Alexandria, Va.

Impressions from headlines contribute to the stigma and neglect, Faenza believes. But research tells a different story, showing that major mentalillnesses add little to the nations violence problem.

End

Quite a number of people have BP, a few of which you may recognize:

Buzz Aldrin, astronaut

Lionel Aldridge

Hans Christian Andersen, writer

Ned Beatty, actor

Robert Boorstin, writer, special assistant to Pres. Clinton,

Arthur Benson, writer

E F Benson, writer

William Blake (1757-1827), poet

Ralph Blakelock, artist

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), general

Tadeusz Borowski

Art Buchwald, writer, humorist

Alohe Jean Burke (Ghafoor), musician, vocalist

Tim Burton, artist, movie director

Robert Campeau, financier (Canada)

Dick Cavett, writer, media personality

C.E. Chaffin, writer, poet

Agatha Christie, mystery writer

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British Prime Minister

John Clare, poet

Rosemary Clooney, singer

Garnet Coleman, legislator (Texas)

Francis Ford Coppola, director

Patricia Cornwell, writer

Richard Dadd

John Daly, athlete (golf)

John Davidson, poet

Edward Dayes, artist

Ray Davies, musician

Emily Dickinson

Kitty Dukakis, former First Lady of Massachusetts

Patty Duke (Anna Duke Pearce), actor, writer

Thomas Eagleton, lawyer, former U.S. Senator

T S Eliot, poet

Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist

Robert Evans, film producer

Carrie Fisher, writer, actor

Edward FitzGerald

Robert Frost

F Scott Fitzgerald, author

Larry Flynt, magazine publisher

Connie Francis, actor, musician

Sigmund Freud, physician

Cary Grant, actor

Kaye Gibbons, writer

Shecky Greene, comedian, actor

Linda Hamilton, actor

Kristin Hersh, musician

Victor Hugo, poet

Burgess Meredith, 1908-1997, actor, director

Kay Redfield Jamison, psychologist, writer

Daniel Johnston, musician

Samuel Johnson, poet

Margot Kidder, actor

Robert E Lee, soldier

Bill Lichtenstein, producer (TV & radio)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), US President

Jack London, author

Robert Lowell, poet

Marilyn Monroe, actress

Mozart, composer

Jay Marvin, radio personality, writer

Kevin McDonald, comedian, actor

Kristy McNichol, actor

Dimitri Mihalas, scientist

Kate Millett, writer, artist

Spike Milligan, comic actor, writer

John Mulheren, financier (U.S.)

Robert Munsch, writer

Napoleon, general

Ilie Nastase, athlete (tennis), politician

Isaac Newton, scientist

Margo Orum, writer

Nicola Pagett, actor

J C Penney

Plato, philosopher, according to Aristotle

Edgar Allen Poe, author

Jimmie Piersall, athlete, sports announcer

Charley Pride, musician

Mac Rebennack (Dr. John), musician

Jeannie C. Riley, musician

Phil Graham, owner, Washington Post

Graham Greene, writer

Peter Gregg, team owner and manager, race car driver

Abbie Hoffman, writer, political activist

Lynn Rivers, U.S. Congress

Francesco Scavullo, artist, photographer

Lori Schiller, writer, educator

Frances Sherwood, writer

Scott Simmie, writer, journalist

Alonzo Spellman, athlete (football)

Muffin Spencer-Devlin, athlete (pro golf)

Gordon Sumner (Sting), musician, composer

St Francis

St John

St Theresa

Rod Steiger, film maker

Robert Louis Stevenson

Liz Taylor, actor

J.M.W. Turner

Mark Twain, author

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet

Ted Turner, entrepreneur, media giant

Jean-Claude Van Damme, athlete, actor

Vincent van Gogh

Mark Vonnegut, doctor, writer

Sol Wachtler, judge, writer

Tom Waits, musician, composer

Walt Whitman, poet

Tennessee Williams, author

Brian Wilson, musician (Beach Boys), composer, arranger

Jonathan Winters, comedian, actor, writer, artist

Luther Wright, athlete (basketball)

Don't ever forget, it makes us creative, it keeps us humble, and it keeps us unrelenting in our efforts.

I myself, Stephanie, the creator of this website, suffer from Bipolar Disorder. I have this one question to ask of anyone who just read this list of people who also suffer from this life-altering disease. In reading this list, did it open your mind to others who may share this disease? Or, do you now find yourself thinking less of those on the list or are trying to imagine them in different, less glamorous situations than you once imagined?

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