Psychosis rarely, inconsistently precedes violence

Data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study suggest that psychosis precedes violent acts some of the time among individuals with repeated involvement with violence, but is uncommon and inconsistent.“Recent mass shootings in Connecticut, Virginia and Washington, D.C., by individuals who ostensibly have a mental illness have generated tremendous media attention and public concern,” study researcher Jennifer Skeem, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues wrote in Clinical Psychological Science. “Because these shootings are rare, they are difficult to study systematically and little is known about them.”