Anger Attacks Rampant Among U.S. Teens

[Gaze]

Do you guys think this is a real issue or is it overhype or exaggeration?

By KATIE MOISSE (@katiemoisse)
July 3, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/anger-attacks-rampant-us-teens/story?id=16694231

Brian Kearney was an angry teenager.
"There were lots of holes in my bedroom wall," said 21-year-old Kearney, recalling the "superhuman strength" that sent his VCR clear across the room. "I would say I was a little on edge."
For Kearney, who also struggled with an eating disorder in his teens, anger was a way release the pressure of high school.
"I didn't develop appropriate coping mechanisms," Kearney said.
Nearly two-thirds of American teenagers admit to having "anger attacks" that that involve destroying property, threatening or engaging in violence, a new study found. And one in 12 has intermittent explosive disorder, characterized by chronic, uncontrollable fits of rage.
"It's an enormous problem that mental health professionals have not taken seriously," said Ronald Kessler, a psychiatric epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston and lead author of the study, published Monday in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. "I think it's clear from this study that needs to change."

Brian Kearney struggled with anger attacks as a teenager.

Kessler describes intermittent explosive disorder, dubbed IED, as the mirror image of panic disorder.
"Without a really good reason, people all of a sudden feel very fearful, or very angry, and do something excessive," he said. "It's either fight or flight."
For Kearney, one wrong look could trigger a "vicious" reaction.
"I can't explain how I felt when I was in one of those fits of rage," he said. "It's almost like I would black out."
Kessler said Kearney's situation is too common to ignore.
"One in 12 kids has this problem. And people very often continue to have this problem into adulthood, affecting their education, jobs and marriages," he said. "Not to mention the criminal implications."
Although IED is listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, its cause – and how best to treat it – remain unknown.
"It bears studying, because what we currently know remains speculative," said Dr. Bela Sood, chair of child and adolescent psychiatry at VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Va.
Sood said IED can be hard for patients – and their parents – to handle.
"During an episode, a person goes from zero to 60," she said. "Afterward they often feel remorseful, but the deed is done."
Kearney said he would apologize to his parents after an attack but admitted the anger took a heavy toll.
"It definitely affected our relationship," he said. "But in the end I'm closer to them than I ever was."
Kearney, now a junior at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., patched up his relationships – and the holes in his wall – and left his troubled teenage years behind. He credits talk therapy for his victory over anger, as well as Xanax that helps quell his anxiety.
"Everything I've gone through has shaped me into the person I am today," he said. "And I think I'm a pretty good person."

 

[Gaze]

Do you guys think this is a real issue or is it overhype or exaggeration?

 

[This]

I think it's overhype, teen anger is something that has always gone on. Hell, it's what rock and roll was born from.

 

[Vict]

I fully expect to have to fight off young testosterone factories until I'm taken down and my harem is dissolved among the victors.

 

[MindYourHead]

I put my fist through a wall or 2 when I was a teen, and that was a long time ago.
Nothing new.

When we sold my Mother's house last Summer, I noticed a dent in a door that I caused some 35 years earlier. Oops.

 

[the]

Teenagers get angry and throw fits, what else is new? Was his DVD player not working that day so he tried to destroy it? What good is that kind of anger? He will have to spend even longer now to fix his DVD player - oh but wait we dont fix things anymore we just throw it out and buy new ones; and waste all the other functional parts. I've always viewed people who punched walls as idiotic. Especially when I witnessed a man punch a concrete wall and break his hand.

 

[5r6jhd]

Ughhh I think the real problem is Americans making up new and ridiculous mental illnesses for the DSMV or whatever number its on now!!

 

[Barnabas]

simple solution, boxing gloves, Gladiatorial arena if the state wants to make money off of it

 

[Flavus Aquila]

The way I and most of my schoolmates were brought up strongly shunned unacceptable shows of anger. I guess this meant that most of the time we had to repress our anger and let it out in acceptable ways. My school always topped the Rugby competition (an Australian type of football).

If a student lost his anger during class - one student once started swearing and throwing stuff - we would restrain him; and if necessary, take him outside and pin him down till he calmed down.



Except for cases of significant mental illness, I would guess that these teen temper tantrums are a symptom of an absence of discipline and manners been imposed on children from a young age.