Abstract
This tribute to the enduring legacy of Bernard Diamond explores public perceptions of a link between mental disorder and violent behavior. Research on contemporary American beliefs is summarized and compared both to historical accounts of public perceptions in Western cultures and to anthropological investigations of public perceptions in non-Western cultures. The conclusion of these reviews is that the belief that mental disorder bears some moderate association with violent behavior is both historically invariant and culturally universal.
Footnotes
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Dr. Monahan is Doherty Professor of Law and Professor of Psychology and Legal Medicine at the University of Virginia. Requests for reprints should be addressed to John Monahan, School of Law, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901.
- Copyright © 1992, The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
