If there is no important
contribution of schizophrenia to aggressive behavior
unless the patient also uses alcohol or illicit drugs,
then the prevention and treatment of aggression could
be refocused on the management of substance use
disorders. Scarce resources could be reassigned accordingly.
Furthermore, because fear of patient violence
7contributes to the stigma of schizophrenia, a finding
that schizophrenia per se does not cause violence may
sound reassuring. It would remove part of the stigma
from schizophrenia and transfer it to substance use
disorders.