INTERMITTENT EXPLOSIVE DISORDER – LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

The Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), classified as a type of an Impulse Control Disorder (ICD), is characterized by severe and isolated episodes of aggression on a disproportionate way to the event that originates them. The episodes are preceded, in most cases, by a stress factor and, succeeded by intense regret. The IED, although it exists in the literature for over 30 years, is still a properly unknown mental disorder. Considering the society, this condition is considered several times a temperamental act of an individual who reacts violently to the facts, only mattering the moment that starts to harm their own routine or others. So, what leads them to seek help are the serious consequences of the disorder. For psychiatrists and psychologists, this disorder can go unnoticed, especially when correlated with other disorders or even when patients do not consider the aggressive explosions as unhealthy. The pharmacological treatment of aggressive behavior and impulsivity associated with cognitive- behavioral therapy, is well defined, but there isn’t any study that defines healthy therapy for patients with IED. The classes of medications that have shown good efficacy are antiepileptics, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, betablockers and selective inhibitors from reuptake of serotonin. This work aims to review the main aspects of IED, from reading, collecting and analysis of existing literature about the subject produced over the last 10 years, until August 2013.