Comment on The Sun's 'mental patient' front page

There are 1.2 million people using secondary mental health services - the vast majority of whom pose no threat to anyone.

There are 1.2 million people using secondary mental health services - the vast majority of whom pose no threat to anyone.

Commenting on The Sun's 'mental patient' front page, Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change, Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind and Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness say:

"It's incredibly disappointing to see a leading newspaper splash with such a sensational and damaging headline.

The figures used are disputable: in the article itself, it's acknowledged that the numbers of homicides by people with mental illness has actually stayed the same for decades. In fact some studies suggest that the numbers have gone down in recent years.

There are 1.2 million people using secondary mental health services - the vast majority of whom pose no threat to anyone. And in reality, people with mental health problems are more likely to be victims of crime than the general population.

We can't afford for the call for improvements in mental health care to be led by a stigmatising debate focused on tragic but very rare incidents of violence.

This headline, which will be seen by millions of people today, creates a completely false picture which will only fuel the stigma and prevent more people from seeking help and support when they need it, including when they are in crisis.

We urge all media outlets to use extreme caution when reporting issues like this, and ask that they look at the guidelines (the link to this external content from Time to Change has expired) produced by Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness."

• Mental health in the media