The stigma of mental illness remains a serious social problem and critical impediment to treatment seeking among diagnosed individuals. Study 1 evaluated explicit attitudes and stereotypes about persons with mental illness relative to persons with physical illness, and also implicit attitudes that lie outside conscious control (using the Implicit Association Test) in a college sample (N = 119). Study 2 extended the evaluation of explicit and implicit biases to a sample diagnosed with mental illness (N = 35) and a healthy control sample from the general population (N = 36). Results demonstrated implicit negative attitudes and beliefs about the helplessness and blameworthiness of mentally ill persons. Interestingly, relatively negative explicit attitudes and biases about the helplessness (though not blameworthiness) of mentally ill persons were also evident. In addition, being a member of the stigmatized group did not result in lower implicit or explicit biases, suggesting that no protective in-group bias exists. I wanted to tell her that if only something were wrong with my body it would be fine, I would rather have anything wrong with my body than something wrong with my head.

This study examined the relationship between killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty and mental health symptoms in a sample of police officers (N = 400) who were first assessed during academy training and at five additional time points over three years. We found that nearly 10% of police officers reported having to kill or seriously injure someone in the line of duty in the first three years of police service. After controlling for demographics and exposure to life threat, killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty was significantly associated with PTSD symptoms (p< .01) and marginally associated with depression symptoms (p < .06). These results highlight the potential mental health impact of killing or seriously injuring someone in the line of duty. Greater attention to mental health services following these types of exposures can serve as a preventative measure for police officers who have been negatively impacted.

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This study investigated the relationships among impulsivity, antisocial and violent behavior, and personality disorders in 590 female inmates of a maximum-security female prison. Measures included the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, Prison Violence Inventory, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders Screening Questionnaire, numbers of institutional infractions recorded in inmate files, and violent versus nonviolent offending. Results showed that impulsivity was associated with personality psychopathology and aggressive and antisocial behavior. In contrast to findings of studies with male inmates, female violent offenders did not demonstrate higher levels of impulsivity than nonviolent offenders.

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