Intermittent explosive disorder: causes and symptoms

Our emotional state is an area of ​​our psychological life that, on many occasions, is revealed as something beyond our control. This has positive consequences, other negative ones, and some that have to do with risks. when certain types of mental disorders occur.

For example, thanks to feelings and emotions we can live intensely all kinds of moments, quickly learn about of the positive and negative consequences of our actions and even achieve better communication with others, but, in Sometimes, some biological alterations can cause our emotional reactions to be excessive or even to be outside of place.

Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is a clear example of thisAlthough in these cases the person diagnosed with this type of disorder sees her quality of life significantly limited by this mental alteration.

• You may be interested: "The 16 most common mental disorders"

What is intermittent explosive disorder?

Along with pyromania, trichotillomania, the gambling and many other disorders, intermittent explosive disorder is part of what is known in the DSM-V diagnostic manual as impulse control disorders. In short,

characterized by expressing itself through sudden and relatively brief outbursts of violence, triggered by minimally frustrating or stressful situations, and that cannot be explained by substance use or injury.

People with IED have a very low frustration threshold and any annoyance, however insignificant it may seem, makes them suddenly fly into a rage, even if seconds before they were in a very good mood and laughing. Throughout these short episodes of anger, which do not usually last more than an hour, the person partially or totally loses control over their behavior and on many occasions they can physically or verbally attack people who are close.

After the outburst of anger has passed, people with intermittent explosive disorder usually experience realize for themselves that what they have done has been harmful to others, and will often feel guilty.

Symptoms

The symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder vary somewhat depending on the diagnostic manual used as a reference, but are mainly based on the appearance of short bursts of anger, expressed through physical or verbal violence, which are disproportionate to the magnitude of their causes and lead to a loss of control.

Because anger occurs without premeditation, it is often expressed by disrupting a positive mood, and violence has no instrumental purpose. The person who presents the symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder does not aspire to achieve objectives through aggressions, but these are the result of their altered mood, which cannot be attributed to substance use or the existence of other disorders or deformed parts of the nervous system or damaged.

A) Yes, people with IED can go into a rage within seconds by interpreting that someone is staring at them too much, or when they see that a product that they have ordered in a store has been sold out, or by accidentally breaking an object. The outbursts of anger They can appear in very varied situations, but they all have something in common: they would not be a source of intense anger for the vast majority of the population.

As with all disorders, only certain mental health professionals can reach out to make a diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder, almost always with the help of a manual DSM.

Other similar disorders

TEI is closely related to Bipolar disorder, of which it is hypothesized that it may become an early phase. In bipolar disorder, moments of mania and euphoria can resemble the explosion of intense emotions that occur in intermittent explosive disorder.

However, the difference between both types of alterations is, basically, that in intermittent explosive disorder, outbursts of anger can appear at any time, while in bipolar disorder these are linked to episodes of mania or depression, moments in which the mood was already altered before.

Regarding the antisocial personality disorder, in which outbreaks of violence are also common, in those cases it fulfills an instrumental function, so a purpose can be identified concrete, while in the TEI there is no clear objective beyond behaviorally expressing the state of agitation and frustration in which the person.

Treatment of intermittent explosive disorder

As it is a mental disorder that cannot be linked to drugs or injuries but has to do with the way in which networks of neurons interact with each other and with environmental stimuli, the TEI cannot be treating by intervening on a single specific factor, as if to heal a wound. Therefore, in these cases the intervention is usually a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and administration of psychotropic drugs (usually mood stabilizers and / or antidepressants).

Psychotherapy is usually very helpful in knowing how to recognize the first manifestations of outbreaks of anger, implement plans to increase the level of control over behavior and prevent others from being harmed, and develop coping strategies against the feeling of guilt and the feeling sad. In this way, patients learn to follow certain protocols when they begin to notice the first symptoms of an explosive disorder-induced seizure. intermittent, and they learn to regulate their behavior and ideas about what is happening in such a way as to reduce discomfort in both themselves and children. the rest.

Bibliographic references:

• Beck, A.T. and Freeman, A. (1995). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders. Barcelona: Paidós.
• Goodman, H.H. (Ed.). (1987). General psychiatry. Mexico: The Modern Manual. (Orig. 1984).
• Jaspers, K. (1946/1993). General Psychopathology. Mexico: FCE.