serious mental issues.
This is at the heart of it, yes. "Incels" may or may not be more likely to engage in violent behaviour, but when it's a sample size of one, we can't really say anything. If the gunman was wearing a blue shirt, it doesn't mean we should fear everyone in blue shirts.
Mental health here in the UK has been underfunded for years, a legacy of successive governments chipping away at provision until the service is not fit for purpose. I don't think this can be ignored in this instance. And the year and a half of lockdowns and social restrictions only exacerbates the situation:
Services are understaffed: Four in ten mental health trusts (41 per cent) have staffing levels well below established benchmarks.
People are not getting the help they need: There is huge variation in the numbers of people accessing crisis care services and one in five people (18 per cent) who came into contact with NHS services in crisis was not assessed at all. Only 14 per cent of people said that, overall, they felt they had all the support they needed when in crisis.
People aren’t assessed quickly enough: Only a third (33 per cent) of respondents who came into contact with NHS services when in crisis were assessed within four hours, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Services are not available all the time: One in ten (10 per cent) crisis teams still fails to operate 24-hour, seven-day-a-week services, despite recommendations by NICE.
People cannot contact crisis teams directly: Only half (56 per cent) of crisis teams accept self-referrals from known services users and just one in five (21 per cent) from service users that aren’t already known to them. This is despite NICE guidance that crisis teams should offer self-referral as an alternative to emergency services.
There is a lack of respect and dignity: Less than a third (29 per cent) said they felt all staff treated them with respect and dignity.
https://www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/news/mental-health-crisis-care-services-under-resourced-understaffed-and-overstretched/'Today's new data from the Office for National Statistics, which reveals that depression rates have doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic began, forewarns of a growing mental health crisis in the UK. Particularly concerning is that those in more precarious economic positions or burdened by existing inequalities – young people, women, clinically vulnerable adults, disabled people and those living in the most deprived areas of England – have been disproportionately affected. This suggests that inequalities in our society have worsened as a result of the pandemic. Despite increasing rates of depression, diagnoses by GPs fell by almost a quarter, suggesting access to mental health care is in decline. Our COVID-19 impact inquiry has found that reduced access to care will have long-term implications on mental health and put even greater pressure on health services.
'These worrying findings show how important it is for government to rapidly address the vast consequences of the pandemic, to protect the long-term impacts on the nation's health.'
https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/news/latest-data-highlights-a-growing-mental-health-crisis-in-the-uk