Study: 16 million might have road rage disorder

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- To you, that angry, horn-blasting tailgater is suffering from road rage. But doctors have another name for it -- intermittent explosive disorder -- and a new study suggests it is far more common than they realized, affecting up to 16 million Americans.

"People think it's bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don't know ... is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this," said Dr. Emil Coccaro, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Chicago's medical school.

Road rage, temper outbursts that involve throwing or breaking objects and even spousal abuse can sometimes be attributed to the disorder, though not everyone who does those things is afflicted.

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.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/06/05/road.rage.disease.ap/index.html

Amazing.

Not that I'm unappreciative of legitimate mental illness but, isn't this how drugs in search of an illness find one, and stuff?

For big pharma, diseases are essentially busines opportunities... You need to create them, or the appearence of them, to increase business...

...and I have legitimate mental illnesses.

To me, this sounds like "Persistent Assholic Addiction." Sometimes people are just assholes, you know? If I'm proven wrong, I'll take it back. :shrug:

A pair of these "intermittent" assholes got behind me when I was trying to drive, sick, out of a canyon about a week ago. Apparently, I wasn't driving fast enough for them, so they tailgated me and honked their horn. This is a very narrow, winding road full of potholes. When there was a place to pull over I did and was thanked with a one-finger victory salute from the passenger. I very much doubt these folks suffered from some disorder that impelled them to behave the way they did.

I wish I had a batmobile device that simply makes their engine die... :)

I still want one of those universal remote keychains that turns off TVs. They pervade society and I hate it...makes everything way too noisy.

Isn't this another example of "disease mongering"? Soon we'll see ads on TV about a new drug to fix it, I'm sure...

I'm very ragey while I'm driving. I curse like a sailor. The standing joke is that my nephew's first word is going to be bastard or whore. LOL
Duckie

it's ramming the bastards with your SUV that is over the line!! :)

But is fun to talk about it :)

But I'm definitely going to read more into this. Thanks.

drivers. :evilgrin:

I mean, why should I care that some moron is driving 45 in the fast lane why yakking away on their cell phone? If I just take another Xanax I'll be fine I guess. :sarcasm:

"Road rage disorder" is nothing of the kind. It's people on the road, stressed as it is, dealing with dipshit drivers. And some of those drivers are themselves.



Bad driving, stress, in a needlessly stressful world... it's anxiety.

...

Three baskets, four people. Three of those people had stuff just stacked in them while they waited for washer/dryer to finish. The damned baskets are for TRANSPORTING laundry, people, not STORING it.

:grr:

Turn Signal Aversion Disorder.

Good one!