Don't be afraid of people with mental illness. Be afraid of what you are likely to do to people with mental illness, if you don't control your "normal" ass. A recent University of Southern California study found that adults suffering from schizophrenia are 14 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime than to be arrested for one. Danish researchers found that schizophrenics and those with psychotic symptoms are at far greater risk of becoming homicide victims than other citizens. Only drug users and alcoholics face greater risk.

If you know Melinda or follow her exploits around the world wide web, you probably know how she polices websites and message boards to remind people when they're talking crap about mental illness. Some jerk on a message board yesterday accused someone else of having a personality disorder, and suggested that he should seek help and get some medication for it. Melinda pointed out that personality disorders aren't treated by medication, so the guy has no idea what he's talking about.

I suggested that she start calling these people "phytopaths", because their knowledge of psychology is about as thorough as their knowledge of plant diseases.