Is "road rage" a valid disorder?

[SFG75]

YES, according to some in the know. Personally, I don't buy it, but I believe in things such as people changing their behavior and not putting a whole lot of credit into people's "issues."

By definition, intermittent explosive disorder involves multiple outbursts that are way out of proportion to the situation. These angry outbursts often include threats or aggressive actions and property damage. The disorder typically first appears in adolescence; in the study, the average age of onset was 14.

The study was based on a national face-to-face survey of 9,282 U.S. adults who answered diagnostic questionnaires in 2001-03. It was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

About 5 percent to 7 percent of the nationally representative sample had had the disorder, which would equal up to 16 million Americans. That is higher than better-known mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Coccaro said.

The average number of lifetime attacks per person was 43, resulting in $1,359 in property damage per person. About 4 percent had suffered recent attacks.

The findings were released Monday in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Whatever happened to people who were just jerks?

 

[abecedarian]

Whatever happened to realizing people make driving mistakes, and going on with our lives? When we were dating and first married my hubby drove a purple Gremlin( remember those?) and in place of a cigarette lighter, there was a metal button. Whenever someone misbehaved in traffic, we'd take turns "nuking" them. It was fun and cut out any road rage we might have been tempted to sucumb to.

 

[Honeybee]

Wow, so more people get pissed off with stupid drivers than have schizophrenia. I never would have guessed that...

 

[beer good]

It's marvellous how everything is a "condition" or "disorder" these days. I'm sure Ted Bundy wasn't really a serial killer, he was just an unfortunate sufferer of killalotoffolksitis.

 

[veggiedog]

I have noticed that people seem to blame disorders/conditions/insanity whenever they do anything inexplicably offensive or criminal. There are so many killers who are clearly not insane that plead insanity, just so they can get shorter time in a nice little mental care facility. Many of my classmates say that the world shouldn't blame people like Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot for the atrocities they committed, because they were 'mentally unstable'. They were NOT mentally unstable; they knew exactly what they were doing, exactly how cruel it was, and exactly how many would be hurt...and did it anyway. Those kinds of things are inexcusable. Road rage isn't a disorder, it's just jerks, idiots, and the like, taking out their anger on innocent people. I can understand that people occassionally have bad days or are under a lot of stress, but that isn't an excuse either, and it really can't be blamed on a disorder.

 

[SFG75]

When we were dating and first married my hubby drove a purple Gremlin( remember those?)

Yeah, and the American auto companies wondered why people were buying Nissans and Mazdas.

in place of a cigarette lighter, there was a metal button. Whenever someone misbehaved in traffic, we'd take turns "nuking" them.

Now that sounds like fun!. I've heard of that device before.

killalotoffolksitis

The most under-diagnosed disease of our time. Usually triggered when one's daddy wasn't there.

Road rage isn't a disorder, it's just jerks, idiots, and the like, taking out their anger on innocent people.

Yes! But what, that makes too much sense. You must be suffering from Notfallingforeveryblesseddiagnosisduetocynicism syndrome.

 

[Dogmatix]

Personally I do think all of these things probably are conditions or imbalances BUT I DON'T CARE. Do the crime do the time. I have a freaking mental imbalance every 28 days but I'm also able to control myself by eating a bag of oreos and not slaughtering my neighbor OR running some poor guy off the road. It's irrelevant if these people all need prozac, 2 weeks vacation, or rebirthing therapy if they are behaving in a way which is harmful of others. BooHoo poor little roadragers.

 

[abecedarian]

Personally I do think all of these things probably are conditions or imbalances BUT I DON'T CARE. Do the crime do the time. I have a freaking mental imbalance every 28 days but I'm also able to control myself by eating a bag of oreos and not slaughtering my neighbor OR running some poor guy off the road. It's irrelevant if these people all need prozac, 2 weeks vacation, or rebirthing therapy if they are behaving in a way which is harmful of others. BooHoo poor little roadragers.

Maybe politicians would do well to promise Oreos in every cupboard

 

[Poppy1]

I don't suffer from road-rage, but I swear one of these days when some-one toots at me again because I don't take off the nano-second the lights turn green, I'm going to get out of the car, walk over to them with a big smile on my face and ask them if I can help in any way. I'll probably get flattened, but it'll be worth it. I've only got as far as giving them a big cheery wave so far - figure they must know me.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I don't believe that losing your temper should be considered a disorder either. It's just people who fail to take responsibility for their actions because it's easiest to blame other things and people for your mistakes.

Also be careful about reports like that since it said it was funded by the institute for mental health. Remember if we're not crazy, they're out of a job.

 

[steffee]

It's marvellous how everything is a "condition" or "disorder" these days. I'm sure Ted Bundy wasn't really a serial killer, he was just an unfortunate sufferer of killalotoffolksitis.

I have a freaking mental imbalance every 28 days but I'm also able to control myself by eating a bag of oreos and not slaughtering my neighbor OR running some poor guy off the road.

To be fair, whilst it is ridiculous to lump such things as "road rage" under some disorder, modern life is more stressful than "when I was a lad..." times, with the demise of the nuclear family, more diverse career choices and even lifestyle choices, and of course, transport. People nowadays are more "competitive" if that's the word, materially and even socially, emotionally, etc... this leads to a greater level of stress. Combine that with the fact that the majority of people do little or no exercise and have highly processed diets and it's easy to see why we have so many "disorders" that basically stem from pent-up stress.

We are much more internal these days, too...

Everyone should do yoga, that's the cure!

I agree with you Dr M. if someone commits a crime, then no matter what their "excuse" is, it's not good enough.

 

[Fieldy]

Many of my classmates say that the world shouldn't blame people like Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot for the atrocities they committed, because they were 'mentally unstable'. They were NOT mentally unstable;

I agree

Hitler mentally unstable

so mentally unstable that he pleaded the exact crimes he was going to commit to the jury when in court and write a book on it.

I want to be unstable

i'd be a published author! ... but that's begging the question are author's insane???

 

[Fieldy]

I don't believe that losing your temper should be considered a disorder either. It's just people who fail to take responsibility for their actions because it's easiest to blame other things and people for your mistakes.

If people took responsibility for their actions then the world would be a better place

No war
No pollution
No third world country poverties.

On the surface it may seem unrealistic but if we took responsibilty for our actions that condem others; then these would be solved.

 

[DontGoAway17]

Is it hell.

After driving for years on roads full of complete maniacs, the stupid and unspeakably selfish drivers, understandably people get annoyed. Thats it.

 

[WickedWitch]

This CNN article also says that Intermittent Explosive Disorder has been included in the manual psychiatrists use to diagnose mental illness for a couple of decades, that most sufferers in the study had other emotional disorders or drug or alcohol problems, and that treatment with antidepressants that target serotonin receptors in the brain is often helpful.

They are already recruting for a study to see if Prozac is an effective treatment.

 

[sirmyk]

Road rage is a problem, not a disorder.