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, ACCORDING TO REUTERS. 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 BEHAVIOR, 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 STABILIZING AND ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS CAN RAISE THE THRESHOLD OF PEOPLE PRONE TO OUT-OF-PROPORTION RAGES, AND COGNITIVE TALK THERAPY HELPS PATIENTS RECOGNIZE THE TRIGGERS TO THEIR UNCONTROLLED OUTBURSTS, CO-AUTHOR RONALD KESSLER OF HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL SAID. 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. IN ANY GIVEN YEAR, NEARLY 9 MILLION U.S. ADULTS ARE AFFECTED BY THE DISORDER, BASED ON MENTAL HEALTH SURVEYS OF 9,282 PEOPLE CONDUCTED BETWEEN 2001 AND 2003. A DIAGNOSIS REQUIRES THREE MAJOR EPISODES IN A LIFETIME WHERE A PERSON BECAME SIGNIFICANTLY MORE ANGRY THAN MOST PEOPLE WOULD IN THE SAME SITUATION. A SEVERE FORM OF THE ILLNESS, WHERE THREE OR MORE RAGES OCCUR IN A YEAR'S SPAN, CAN OFTEN RESULT IN ASSAULTS ON PEOPLE OR DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, THE REPORT SAID.
