Real in Their Consequences: A Sociological Approach to Understanding the Association between Psychotic Symptoms and Violence
研究提出精神病症状中的威胁/控制超越症状通过影响情境定义导致暴力，基于以色列流行病学数据发现该症状解释了精神病诊断与暴力的大部分关联，挑战了精神病人危险的刻板印象。
Studies conducted over the past three decades have consistently reported an association between mental illness and violence. We propose a sociologically inspired explanation for this association by referring to the Thomas Theorem—if situations are defined as real, they are real in their consequences. We identify a small subset of psychotic symptoms, termed “threat/control-override” symptoms, that tend to induce violence because they influence the definitions of situations. Our data come from an epidemiological study conducted in Israel that includes a psychiatrist-administered diagnostic interview. We find an association between violent behaviors and psychiatric diagnosis that cannot be accounted for by sociodemographic variables. Threat/control-override symptoms also are strongly related to violent behaviors and explain a substantial part of the association between violence and psychiatric diagnoses. Other equally severe psychotic symptoms are not related to indicators of violence when threat/control-override symptoms are controlled. These findings support our explanation for the association between mental illness and violence, and challenge the stereotype that most people with mental illnesses are dangerous.