Is Road Rage A Psychiatric Disorder?

Recent headline: "Road Rage may be due to a medical condition called intermittent explosive disorder (IED)"
WHAT IS THE SCIENCE BEHIND THIS?
The study, published in June (2006) of the Archives of General Psychiatry was based on a face to face survey of 9282 U.S. adults responding to the diagnostic questionnaires in 2001-03. The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
Results? About 5 percent to 7 percent of the nationally representative sample had the disorder, which amount to 16 million Americans. That is higher than most well-known mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The average number of lifetime attacks per person was 43, taking $ 1,359 in property damage per person. About 4 percent had suffered recent attacks.
Is it real?
This study has created much controversy over exactly what is "medical" road rage and how it differs from simple bad and inconsiderate behavior.
Take the title following six, which were published recently:
News Item # 1: "Finding the Police marksman following incident of Wrath
Date: June 10, 2006. City: Indianapolis, Texas.
The event: At an intersection, the six pilots who participated in a clash when one of them opened fire on the other at a stoplight.
News Item # 2: "Man, 21, charged with shooting road rage."
Date: May 21, 2006. City: San Antonio, Texas.
The event (according to press reports): "Around 3:00 a.m. Samuel Hitchcock, 21, Daniel Pena, 17, and another man were driving a van when transmitted an inside lane, hitting the side mirror of Hitchcock. Hitchcock followed the van in a residential area to gather information and the van took a sudden turn, stop. Hitchcock stood beside the van. Peña, who was in the front passenger seat told police the truck driver pulled a gun and began firing at them, hitting and killing Hitchcock.
Are all such cases, due to intermittent explosive disorder? Very unlikely! Some are and some are not. For this reason, it is important to have a professional evaluation of each case of road rage "to select the underlying cause, and FDI - or some other issue.
Other causes that may come into play are: alcohol or drug intoxication, stress, depression or bipolar disorder, and work in class, egocentric or reckless misconduct.
ROAD RAGE VS AGGRESSIVE DRIVING
The incoming and outgoing traffic, tail gates, or cuts in front of you does not display "road rage" per se, but aggressive careless driving. It is not mad at you, probably not even know you exist, be concerned with their own egocentric needs.
FDI SEEN IN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE
It is also important to note that people who actually suffer from intermittent explosive disorder may explode in a lot of other situations in addition to road rage. Often, "fly" to spouses, children, coworkers, employees or customer.
REMEDIES FOR Road Rage
If road rage is in fact due to FDI, there are six treatments that can help both teens and adults: (1) medications, and (2) cognitive training
Drugs that often affect the SSRIs (a type of antidepressant). In my opinion, most individuals have the road rage do not need medication, but some do and will benefit a lot from them.
Cognitive training involves learning to think differently about driving, aggression on the road and other drivers. Cognitive training is an important element in many of the programs, anger management, some states and the need for "road rage" behavior and / or aggressive driving.
In our classes and anger management programs that teach specific skills and cognitive-behavioral to control the behavior of aggressive driving, inconsiderate, and dangerous. These skills include:
* Improving the management of life stress, including expertise in the management of time-
* The development of empathy for other drivers
* Learning healthy "inner dialogue" phrases
* Setting the expectations of others on the road.