Saw this latest news over at the site http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au , very interesting discovery. Reminds me so much of that movie Anger Management.
Road rage disease
By LINDSEY TANNER
June 07, 2006
TO you, that angry, horn-blasting tailgater is suffering road rage but doctors have another name for it – intermittent explosive disorder and a study suggests it is more common than realised.
"People think it's bad behaviour and you just need an attitude adjustment but what they don't know is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this," University of Chicago chairman of psychiatry Dr Emil Coccaro said.
Road rage, temper outbursts that involve throwing or breaking objects, and even spousal abuse can sometimes be attributed to the disorder, although not everyone who does those things is afflicted.
Intermittent explosive disorder involves multiple outbursts way out of proportion to the situation, often including threats or aggressive actions and property damage.
The disorder typically first appears in adolescence – the study identified the average age of onset as 14.
The study, funded by the US National Institute of Mental Health, was based on a national face-to-face survey of 9282 US adults who answered diagnostic questionnaires in 2001-03.
About 5 to 7 per cent of the sample had the disorder, which would equate to up to 16 million Americans – more than better-known mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The average number of lifetime attacks per person was 43, resulting in $A1812 in property damage per person. About 4 per cent had suffered recent attacks.
The findings show the little-studied disorder is much more common than thought, Harvard Medical School health care policy professor Professor Ronald Kessler said.
"It is news to a lot of people, even specialists in mental health services, that such a large proportion of the population has these clinically significant anger attacks," Professor Kessler said. Dr Coccaro said that the disorder involved inadequate production or functioning of serotonin, a mood-regulating and behaviour-inhibiting chemical in the brain.
Treatment with antidepressants, including those targeting serotonin receptors in the brain, is often helpful, along with anger management.
Most sufferers in the study had other emotional disorders or drug or alcohol problems but only 28 per cent had ever received treatment for anger.
"This is a well-designed, large-scale, face-to-face study with interesting and useful results," University of Vermont psychiatry professor Dr David Fassler said.
"The findings confirm that, for most people, the difficulties associated with the disorder begin during childhood or adolescence and often have a profound and ongoing impact."
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