And I thought I just had a temper...
Apparently anyone who has "road rage", a "short fuse", or has children is just simply suffering from "Intermittent Explosive Disorder" ("IED"). Fantastic, another way to absolve myself from all the things I do that might be perceived as wrong.
From the Independent On Line:
Chicago - If you've witnessed someone become enraged beyond what seems called for, or have gotten unnecessarily angry oneself, you are not alone, researchers said on Monday.
Sixteen million American adults, or more than 7 percent of the nation's adult population, could be diagnosed at some time in their lives with "Intermittent Explosive Disorder", a seldom-studied mental illness, their study said.
"If people think these explosive outbursts are just bad behaviour, they are not thinking of this problem as a serious biomedical problem that can be treated," said study co-author Emil Coccaro, a psychiatrist at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Mood-stabilising and antidepressant drugs can raise the threshold of people prone to out-of-proportion rages, and cognitive talk therapy helps patients recognise the triggers to their uncontrolled outbursts, co-author Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medical School said.
Explosive disorder typically shows up first in adolescence. Shame or embarrassment that follows an explosion of anger can deter sufferers from discussing the problem or seeking help, said the report published in this month's issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. Also, therapists can miss the diagnosis by focusing instead on secondary symptoms like anxiety or depression.
Explosive disorder typically shows up first in adolescence - age 13 in boys, 19 in girls - and can lead to depression, alcoholism and violence toward others or destruction of property, the study said.
Awesome. Thank you, medical community, for giving me another free pass to act any way I want to!
