Poor mental health may be more common in gangs

"Gang violence cause of high levels of mental disorders," reports BBC online. This headline comes from a study that surveyed more than 4,500 young men in Britain. More than a quarter of these men reported being violent but were not involved in gangs, while 108 (about 2%) reported being gang members.

Researchers found that regardless of gang involvement, a history of violence was strongly associated with a higher risk of mental illness. But the risk of developing some types of mental health conditions was significantly higher in gang members. These conditions include: generalised anxiety disorder, psychosis and
antisocial personality disorder – a type of personality disorder characterised by lack of empathy, being prone to violence and poor impulse control drug and alcohol dependency

Analyses suggest that in gang members, this increase in risk could be related to dwelling on violent thoughts, having experienced violent victimisation and fear of further victimisation.

But a major drawback of this study is that it did not determine whether the men had a psychiatric diagnosis before they joined a gang, or if their mental health problems developed afterwards.

As the study was a survey, it also could not carry out the in-depth interviews required to give formal diagnoses.

Despite these limitations, these results provide an insight into a complex problem that needs to be tackled.

Read more from NHS Choices, here.