Ideas about persons with mental illness as violent often result from
larger cultural and political anxieties.
People believe that psychiatric diagnosis is a predictive tool. It is
not. Psychiatrists see many patients who fit the criteria for violent
behavior: They're angry, threatening and sometimes paranoid. However,
only a very small percentage of the patients ... are actually violent.*
A theory is likely to be accepted if it tells a story that benefits a
powerful constituency.
"Do you know what undeniably influences people in a violent
direction? Hanging out with other potentially violent men and drinking."**
*
<https://news.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbiltmagazine/qa-with-dr-jonathan-metzl/>https://news.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbiltmagazine/qa-with-dr-jonathan-metzl/
** Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies, Harper-Collins, 2017, p 196
www.peoplewho.org