Is Untreated Mental Illness Causing Today's Violence?

For too long, the stigma on mental illness prevented open, honest discussions about it. Family members often did not know how to address the fact that a loved one was mentally ill, and people who showed effects of mental illness remained in denial about it. Counseling was not culturally accepted as a means to handle emotional traumas from physical abuse, sexual abuse, grief from death of a loved one, and many other distressing life experiences. Hameeda Carr, M.A., Senior Therapist for the Lake County Health Department, discusses the overwhelming presence of mental illness in our society. Is untreated mental illness the cause of much of today's violence? How do we remove the social stigma in order to appropriately address it and treat it?