---
title: "Psych News Alert:  \"60 Minutes\" Focuses on Schizophrenia and Violence"
description: "Yesterday evening, the CBS television program \"60 Minutes\" gave extensive exposure to the issue of how recent mass shootings in th..."
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lieberman%20lab%5B2%5D-Jun-24-2025-06-36-46-1967-PM.jpg
---

 9/30/13 12:00 AM

# "60 Minutes" Focuses on Schizophrenia and Violence

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert)

Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html)

| [![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lieberman%20lab%5B2%5D-Jun-24-2025-06-36-45-2105-PM.jpg?width=300&name=lieberman%20lab%5B2%5D-Jun-24-2025-06-36-45-2105-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lieberman%20lab%5B2%5D-Jun-24-2025-06-36-45-2105-PM.jpg) |  |
| --- | --- |

Yesterday evening, the CBS television program "60 Minutes" gave extensive exposure to the issue of how recent mass shootings in the U.S. appear to be preventable tragedies—symptoms of a seriously flawed mental health system. Correspondent Steve Kroft interviewed two experts on the subject—Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., president of APA and chair of psychiatry at Columbia University, and E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., executive director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute. Several individuals with schizophrenia as well as their relatives were also interviewed.

Several major points emerged from the segment, including that s chizophrenia is a brain illness. Lieberman documented this knowledge with brain images showing changes in the brains of people with schizophrenia. He also explained that the illness, which "usually emerges in late adolescence and early adulthood, affecting perception and judgment," may cause a person to hear voices, among other symptoms. In the worst cases, people with auditory hallucinations "can't distinguish the voices from their illness, and they think the voices are part of them, and if they tell them what to do, they'll follow it."

Another point made was that there are effective treatments for the hallucinations that individuals with schizophrenia experience, but not all of those individuals have access to such treatments. In other cases, they won't acknowledge their illness and thus refuse treatment. Some u ntreated individuals with schizophrenia occasionally listen to their "voices" telling them to commit violence.

However, both Lieberman and Torrey emphasized that the vast majority of individuals with schizophrenia do not commit violence. They are the ones who suffer the most from their illness. And the tragic fact is that many people with serious mental illness  are not receiving treatment in the community and end up in jails and prisons. For example, the Cook County Jail in Chicago contains thousands of mentally ill inmates, and its director said that it is the largest mental health facility in the country.

Click [here](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50156091n) to view the "60 Minutes" segment.

[violence and mental illness](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/violence-and-mental-illness), [mass shootings](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/mass-shootings)

## Related posts

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_61490965-4.jpg?height=200&name=shutterstock_61490965-4.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/02/poor-facial-emotion-recognition-can.html)

[schizophrenia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/schizophrenia)

## [Poor Facial-Emotion Recognition Can Signal Risk for Psychosis](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/02/poor-facial-emotion-recognition-can.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 2/19/13 12:00 AM

Youth at high risk for schizophrenia may exhibit an inability to correctly interpret facial...

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/02/poor-facial-emotion-recognition-can.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/stomach-pain-iStock-1128658922-Jun-24-2025-03-55-15-8842-PM.jpg?height=200&name=stomach-pain-iStock-1128658922-Jun-24-2025-03-55-15-8842-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2023/12/suicidal-symptoms-may-worsen-for-some.html)

[American Journal of Psychiatry](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/american-journal-of-psychiatry), [suicidal thoughts](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicidal-thoughts), [psychiatric symptoms](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/psychiatric-symptoms), [menstrual cycle](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/menstrual-cycle), [suicidal plan](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicidal-plan)

## [Suicidal Symptoms May Worsen for Some Women Before, During Menses](https://alert.psychnews.org/2023/12/suicidal-symptoms-may-worsen-for-some.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 12/14/23 12:00 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2023/12/suicidal-symptoms-may-worsen-for-some.html)

[![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/doctor_covid19_iStock-1221859961-Jun-24-2025-05-25-30-1834-PM.jpg?height=200&name=doctor_covid19_iStock-1221859961-Jun-24-2025-05-25-30-1834-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2020/09/older-physicians-experience-less-work.html)

[suicide](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicide), [depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [anxiety](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/anxiety), [stress](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/stress), [suicidal ideation](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/suicidal-ideation), [burnout](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/burnout), [distress](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/distress), [Australia](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/australia), [older physicians](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/older-physicians), [University of Notre Dame](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/university-of-notre-dame), [Chanaka Wijeratne](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/chanaka-wijeratne)

## [Older Physicians Experience Less Work-Related Stress, Psychological Distress Than Younger Colleagues](https://alert.psychnews.org/2020/09/older-physicians-experience-less-work.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

 9/16/20 12:00 AM

[ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2020/09/older-physicians-experience-less-work.html)

```json
{
  "@context" : "https://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert",
    "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T18:39:18.756Z",
  "datePublished" : "2013-09-30T04:00:00.000Z",
  "headline" : "Psych News Alert:  \"60 Minutes\" Focuses on Schizophrenia and Violence",
  "image" : [ "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lieberman%20lab%5B2%5D-Jun-24-2025-06-36-46-1967-PM.jpg" ],
  "mainEntityOfPage" : {
    "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2013/09/minutes-focuses-on-schizophrenia-and.html",
    "@type" : "WebPage"
  },
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg"
    }
  }
}
```