[News] Increased risk of being randomly horrifically attack while out and about

[herecomesaregular]

Not by some one bringing jihad or similar to the streets but just some random bloke... attacking you for no logical reason while you're out and about. Seems on the marked increase recently (last example seems.to be the terrible samurai attack). Some recent attacks blamed on paranoid schizophrenia (an illness I'm familiar working with but only with persons following their medication regime, Ive only met a few people in troubling psychosis, untreated).
Is this an indication of the lack of MH support in this country , and a lack of hospital places for the seriously ill? (Many people come off their meds when left in the community barely supervised) or a symptom of some type of "modern rage"?
V worrying anyway.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Is this an indication of the lack of MH support in this country , and a lack of hospital places for the seriously ill?

Probably

 

[Stat Brother]

As horrifying as this recent case is, your thread title is doing a lot of heavy lifting - A little too Mail OnLine.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

There definitely IS an increased risk, and it almost certainly IS due to underfunding of related care and services.

The risk to you, as you go about your business, has increased though, from infinitesimal to slightly-less-infinitesimal.

 

[beorhthelm]

is there increase in incidence, or is this recency effect? when i looked after last attack (few weeks back) it looked like short term knife attacks are down a bit, long term they are up a bit.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

I agree that it is wrong that mentally sick people can be free to get into trouble and do harm. However, the public risk is still a very small one.

 

[scoobiewhite]

You would need to look at the statistics and they might not even paint the true picture. Are more attacks being reported now?

I would say the threat is the same on the terror front IRA vs IS etc.

As for random attacks, I was beaten to a pulp when I was 19 for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I know a couple of people who have been randomly stabbed in the 90s, its always been a thing.

We tend to over romanticise the past and over doom the present so I'd say.

 

[¡Cereal Killer!]

MH services (in Brighton at least) are stretched beyond belief.
I got a diagnosis for Autism last year after waiting 5 years for an assessment, still waiting for an assessment for ADHD (don't know why they couldn't just diagnose me at the same time tbh) and I personally have found support services to be very lacking.

Thankfully for me, while I do struggle at times, I am not at the point of desperately needing help.
But with services so stretched, some people who really do need help are going to get turned away, or are going to be waiting for so long for the help they need or just overlooked and while unlikely to be a danger to the wider community (but possible as yesterday's incident suggests), could become damaging for themselves and their families.

 

[Brovion]

There definitely IS an increased risk, and it almost certainly IS due to underfunding of related care and services.

The risk to you, as you go about your business, has increased though, from infinitesimal to slightly-less-infinitesimal.

Agreed - although I'd also stick some of the blame on social media. In the 'old days' you just used to be left alone with your demons. Now you can find umpteen websites, blogposts, podcasts, Youtube vids, etc to re-enforce and feed said demons and to set you off into a, sometimes literal, death spiral.

I bet when they analyse the guy's browsing history it won't be all about renting caravans in Cleethorpes.

 

[Bold Seagull]

There’s an increased risk of getting hit by one of the increasing number of people texting while driving. I’m slightly more worried about those people than swords tbh.

 

[Justice]

You have to protect yourself these days. Way to many unstable people about.

 

[Stat Brother]

There’s an increased risk of getting hit by one of the increasing number of people texting while driving. I’m slightly more worried about those people than swords tbh.

What I wanted to write but had I done some absolute weapon on here would be feverishly finding a local news story about an errant cyclist in order to somehow prove me 'wrong'.

 

[LamieRobertson]

We have last weeks ‘attack’ at a school ….and now this, just reported which one hopes doesn’t become a trend

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Not by some one bringing jihad or similar to the streets but just some random bloke... attacking you for no logical reason while you're out and about. Seems on the marked increase recently (last example seems.to be the terrible samurai attack). Some recent attacks blamed on paranoid schizophrenia (an illness I'm familiar working with but only with persons following their medication regime, Ive only met a few people in troubling psychosis, untreated).
Is this an indication of the lack of MH support in this country , and a lack of hospital places for the seriously ill? (Many people come off their meds when left in the community barely supervised) or a symptom of some type of "modern rage"?
V worrying anyway.

Even if they have no criminal record, and only a 'slightly enhanced' risk of mayhem, people with psychosis perhaps need to me managed more diligently. Always monitor, always follow up missed appointments etc. With armed police if necessary when the patient has a combination of mayhem-risk factors (the nature of which may be discussed by the professionals) and is not responding to attend monitoring sessions. Clearly the management of this, and due diligence, can sometimes be neglected, as in certain other areas like parental child abuse.

The fragmentation of services with scope for communication breakdown doesn't help. Even with non mental health issues....I have had various bits of neglect and failure to see through treatments because hospitals, hospital departments and GP surgeries don't communicate, and there is no single person in charge.

Factor in patients who don't engage....

All that said I will go out on a limb and suggest the system generally works well. Whether it be 'jihadis' or as in the present case a different manifestation of psychosis, a lots of chance events are needed for someone to run amok at strangers with a knife.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Is this an indication of the lack of MH support in this country , and a lack of hospital places for the seriously ill?

Absolutely yes. There are still two mind sets ( no pun intended ) that need changing :

1. I've met numerous people who's view of mental health illness is "Well they just need to get over it". Depression is a good example - incredibly difficult to deal with if you have it ( and I have had it ) and people just saying "Well you need to go for a good walk each day and you'll feel happier" show a complete lack of understanding of the condition.

2. The current government need to stop demonising MH issues - good example is currently they want to reduce the benefits of those with MH issues in an attempt "to get them back to work".

 

[jackalbion]

There's risks everywhere in society, but its is rare that is it is you. You can't live life like that and worry about being attacked in my opinion, if it happens it happens, and it builds you as a person. I do think its shocking the lack of mental health support in this country as someone who has suffered, its a massive crisis that it is the governments responsibility to fix.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

As horrifying as this recent case is, your thread title is doing a lot of heavy lifting - A little too Mail OnLine.

That's a bit unfair. Pointlessly pissy, in fact

 

[Stat Brother]

That's a bit unfair. Pointlessly pissy, in fact

Why?
It's a sensational thread title to which I and just about everybody else have said doesn't really have any validity.
Which in turn is pretty much the dictionary definition of The Mail OnLine's content.

 

[POSKETT AT THE VALLEY]

And even more of a risk in New Cross on a Saturday afternoon.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

MH services (in Brighton at least) are stretched beyond belief.
I got a diagnosis for Autism last year after waiting 5 years for an assessment, still waiting for an assessment for ADHD (don't know why they couldn't just diagnose me at the same time tbh) and I personally have found support services to be very lacking.

Thankfully for me, while I do struggle at times, I am not at the point of desperately needing help.
But with services so stretched, some people who really do need help are going to get turned away, or are going to be waiting for so long for the help they need or just overlooked and while unlikely to be a danger to the wider community (but possible as yesterday's incident suggests), could become damaging for themselves and their families.

There are numerous autist posters on NSC. If you ever fancy an emote, pop over to the mental health thread.