Intermittent Explosive Disorder or Depression?

Take a guy of middle age, mix in a teenager, have him worry about paying for college, then work him like a dog, mix in another teenager staying out too late, and what do you have? Intermittent explosive disorder! Sorry, but this newest craze to hit the psychologic airwaves seems too "popularist" to me. I have seen good guys lose it when they're depressed, sleep-deprived, or stressed. Could, in fact, Intermittent Explosive Disorder (or IED) be actually a form of male depression or post-traumatic stress disorder? I suspect that the bias in the psychologic literature about the incidence of women's depression being higher than the incidence of men's depression is false. Men often express depression or anxiety differently than women. And for a guy to call himself depressed, geez, that's a sign of weakness!

Now don't get me wrong, I have great respect for the field of clinical psychology (after all I married one) and I certainly am not an expert, but the fact that this hit the media outlets by storm makes me wonder which drug company will introduce a new pharmaceutical for this "IED disorder" next week. Oh, but maybe the real reason for this "discovery" is buried in this comment toward the end of this press release:

Since IED so often arises at a young age, the researchers write, early detection "would most reasonably take place in schools and might well be an important addition to school-based violence prevention programs."

Newsflash: if we think the Great American Public School system is going to identify this problem earlier and impose more "violence prevention programs" in our schools that reshape our kids, think again. It might not be that simple.

The real work starts at home. Especially if Dad is depressed.

--Wes