Can I refuse to provide information when a police officer asks about my mental health?
<p>The studies aren't conclusive but some seem to suggest those with mental health diagnoses tend to be treated differently by police officers.  </p>

<p>For example, Watson, Corrigan Ottti report that</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Teplin, Pruett and Teplin found that officers are more likely to arrest subjects with a mental illness</p>
</blockquote>

<p>in the introduction of <a href="http://jaapl.org/content/jaapl/32/4/378.full.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">their paper</a>.</p>

<p>There are lots of mental health diagnoses which are very common and should not be relevant to most situations like people with depression and OCD.</p>

<p>If asked about mental health issues, is it okay to deny having them, or to not answer the question?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>You have the right to remain silent ...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So begins the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_warning" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Miranda warning</a> required to be given by US police officers before they arrest you. Police in every other liberal western democracy are required to issue a similar warning (even though the obligation is not as prescriptive as in the US).</p>

<p>The right to silence extends to interactions <em>before</em> an arrest although no warning has to be given.</p>

<p>Shut up, comply with directions and ask for a lawyer.</p>

<p>Incidentally, the journal article linked <strong>does not</strong> say that people with a mental illness are more likely to be arrested. It actually says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>... differences ... between officers receiving information
  that Steve had schizophrenia and those
  who did not suggest only one difference that met ... criteria for significance. Officers receiving mental illness information were more likely to indicate that they would contact a mental health agency than those who did not.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>and</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...
  differences ... between
  officers receiving information that Steve had schizophrenia
  and those who did not suggested no statistical
  significance.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Lying to the police is a bad idea.  It could be considered obstruction.  See, for example, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001" rel="nofollow noreferrer">18 USC § 1001</a> which makes lying to federal officials a felony.  Individual states may or may not have similar laws.</p>

<p>You could probably simply refuse to answer the question in most cases.</p>

police mental-health