Extremists show no elevated mental illness rates relative to the general population

Evidence

One important note regarding the vulnerabilities presented in Table 2.1 is that there is a lack of consensus surrounding the role of mental health in radicalization. Although there is a tendency among members of the general public and some in academia to chalk extremist behavior up to mental health issues, it is difficult to establish causation between mental health issues and extremist behavior, particularly because mental health symptoms (and perhaps many other individual attributes) are often not collected until after a person has joined a radical group. Thus, there may be bias in these methods. PIRUS data indicate that “extremists and terrorists are no more likely to suffer from mental health problems than members of the general population,” with mental illness accounting for or coinciding with only a small percentage (a mean of ~11 percent) of the examined radicalization cases. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 150

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mental health care targeted at extremists may directly support disengagement — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 58; Mental illness is not a major driver of extremism on its own — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 150; Terrorists show no shared psychological attitude pattern toward violence — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4100 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Terrorism is not generally a product of mental pathology #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4088
• The mental-disorder theory of terrorism lacks reliable clinical evidence #corroborates (0.93) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4089
• Mental illness is not a major driver of extremism on its own #corroborates (0.92) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 150
• Terrorist groups’ screening practices filter out mentally unstable recruits #complicates (0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4090
• No single factor robustly drives radicalization across the sampled extremist cases #expands (0.78) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 319
• Authoritarians show no deficit in self-esteem or general adjustment #expands (0.76) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2488
• Family abuse is common but not necessary for later violent extremist intent #expands (0.75) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 306
• Terrorists show no shared psychological attitude pattern toward violence #expands (0.74) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4100
• Treating mental illness would eliminate only four percent of violence #qualifies (0.73) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1274
• Uncertainty alone rarely drives violent extremist willingness. #complicates (0.72) — Lea Echelmeyer, Anne-Marie Slotboom, and Frank Weerman, The Putative Effect of Identity on…, 231
• Uncertainty alone does not cause violent extremism without moderating factors #complicates (0.71) — Lea Echelmeyer, Anne-Marie Slotboom, and Frank Weerman, The Putative Effect of Identity on…, 231