You’re so sickeningly wrong… Serious mental illness does not have the connection to violence you’re claiming. I wrote this article on my blog specifically to combat the harmful stigmatizing misinformation like you are claiming here. (I have ads turned off and don’t benefit in any way.)

An excerpt from my blog post:

Only 3-5% of violent acts can be attributed to those with SMI [20], co-occurring substance use plays the most pivotal role in violence [24], many psychosocial contextual factors influence violent acts [11], and while individuals with SMI are potentially 2.1% more likely than those without a mental illness to be violent [4], they are 10 times more likely to be victims of violence themselves. [20]

The References

The following is an excerpt on the Far-Right violent extremism (such as this case) from another one of my blog posts

Radicalization happens when an individual experiences destabilization thru various environmental factors (e.g., job loss, interpersonal hardship, isolation), experiences extremist rhetoric, and the extremism is then reinforced by members of the individual’s group/community. [24]

Radicalization spreads through a complex social contagion effect, in which it requires multiple exposures before the individual adopts the extreme belief(s), and this concept has been documented in political movements in a broad application. [24] Political propaganda utilizes a similar approach as well.

Group membership and social media usage are catalysts that enhance the spread of radical beliefs. [24] However, evidence suggests that despite encountering the misinformation online, there are still geographical factors that suggest local organizing plays an important role in the development of Far-Right extremist groups. [24]

3 Key Ingredients for Radicalization: [10]

1. Identity Fusion: allegiance to a social group is prioritized above one’s own well-being and identity.

2. Obsessive Passions: one compulsively and relentlessly pursues a passion to the point of dysfunction, marked by loss of self-control and inability to cease activity that causes harm, guilt, shame, or burn-out. [14]

3. Past Incarceration

Another critical factor in one’s susceptibility to radicalization, as concisely stated by Psychology Today, is that: “people who had been threatened, dehumanized, and perceived that they were discriminated against were more likely to become radicalized.” [10] This statement is key in examining the political extremism that has permeated our country, as the movements promoting radicalization prey on people by exploiting these very components.

In a study evaluating Left-Wing and Right-Wing domestic extremism between 1994 and 2020, there was one fatality as the result of Left-Wing extremism, versus 329 fatalities resulting from Far Right extremism in that 25 year period. [5]

The Far-Right movement is the oldest and most deadly form of domestic terrorism in the United States, and The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism found that the Far-Right is responsible for 98% of extremist murders in the U.S. [24] Furthermore, for nearly every year since 2011, Far-Right terrorist attacks/plots have accounted for over half of all terror attacks/plots in the United States. [21]

In the U.S., Right-Wing extremism was responsible for two-thirds of all failed, foiled, or successful terror attacks in 2019, and was responsible for 90% of attacks in the first half of 2020 alone. [21] Since 2013, Far-Right extremism has been responsible for more terror attacks/plots than the Left-Wing, ethnonationalism, or religiously motivated attacks/plots. [21]

For the references