CHICAGO: Researchers now believe that a mental state marked by anger, violent outbursts and abuse of spouses is more common than believed and is basically a mental disorder that needs to be treated.
The illness, known in medical parlance as intermittent explosive disorder (IED), could be affecting nearly 7.3 per cent of adult Americans, which is nearly 16 million people, the researchers, who had carried out a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, say in their article in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
In a given year, IED may be affecting 8.6 million adults in the country, they said.
What is grave, according to lead author of the study Ronald Kessler, a professor of health-care policy at Harvard Medical School, is that IED may predispose people to other mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety and substance abuse problems.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describe people with IED as overreacting to certain situations with uncontrollable rage, experiencing a sense of relief during the angry outburst, and then feeling remorse about their actions.
Kessler said an "awful lot" of people in America have IED, which is characterized by explosive anger attacks that "they can't control and are out of proportion to what is going on in their lives and that lead to physical assault or breaking things."
Kessler and his team based their findings on analysis of data collected from 9,282 adults who participated in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication conducted from 2001 to 2003.
Kessler says the team found that IED is strongly related to depression and anxiety and other mental health problems. Eighty-two per cent of those with IED were also diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and alcohol or drug abuse disorders. And not many people with IED were treated as they usually thought the behavior was not a problem.
Kessler said there are effective treatments for IED, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and administration of antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and mood stabilizers.
IED can happen in childhood and it is a challenge to detect it and treat it in children, says Kessler.
Experts think the treatment should be a combination of talk therapy and medication. They are also apprehensive that people with IED could often be misdiagnosed with a psychiatric illness called bipolar disorder. Both types of patients may have explosive outbursts of rage, but people with IED do not necessarily have the same manic "highs" as people with bipolar disorder.
Kessler and his team is now involved in a WHO study to assess and compare the prevalence of IHD in 30 countries.
