Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) affects up to 36 million adolescents globally. Nearly two-thirds of Indian pre teens have experienced an anger attack that involved threatening violence, destroying property or engaging in violence toward others at some point in their lives. A new study by the University Of Berkeley said with anger issues among children on the rise, we are sitting on a virtual timebomb. IED has an average onset in late childhood and tends to be quite persistent through the middle years of life. The problem is that only 6.5 percent of young children with IED received professional treatment for their anger attacks.
IED is a severe, chronic, commonly occurring anger disorder among adolescents and the main reason why it is under treated is because parents are not aware that if left untreated, this chronic illness could have serious manifestations.
Angry Kya?
Parents feel anger is just another emotion and shouldn't be taken so seriously. "My 12-year-old son is quite aggresive and has been reprimanded sometimes at school. We have consulted a family neurologist and he sayys to let him be the way he is. He will calm down as he matures. We don't trust counsellors as we feel his condition may worsen or he may be further depressed,"says Aruna Dhanwad, a mother from Chennai says.
There are other parents who say visiting the counselor is still a taboo in the society. "I don't my daughter to face ay further problems if we take her to see a medical counsellor. I feel the anger is related to depression. I don't see any need to aggravate matters," Shilpi Jain, professor of English in Delhi University said.
Anger Could Lead To Depression Too
There is a deep relation between anger and depression say clinical psychologists. If left untreated, both could have severe implications. "When uncontrollable anger subsides what remains is depression. One thing leads to the other and before you know it, our kids are facing mental health issues. It makes sense to diagnose problems and seek help at every interval," says Dr Rakesh Mittal, senior psychologist, Gurgaon.
How To Help At Home
Increase Emotional Awareness
The more you can encourage your child to express difficult feelings, the less emotions will build up and overflow into angry explosions. To be able to express emotion, children first need to be aware of their feelings. You can improve your child’s ‘emotional literacy’ by beginning to increase the amount you talk about anger and other feelings.
Stay Calm
Children are like barometers for the emotional climate around them: if you’re stressed, they will be too, if you’re relaxed, so will they be. Schedule in relaxing time for yourself on a regular basis. If it’s difficult to get time alone, club together with other parents and set up a babysitting rota. If you get to recuperate once in a while, it will be much easier for you to respond calmly to your child’s meltdowns. Calm responses will help contain your child’s anger whilst angry ones will make your child more enraged.
Accept Feelings and Redirect Angry Actions
Dismissing difficult feelings (e.g. “hey it’s not a big deal, calm down”) can be counterproductive; your child will be left simmering about both the original source of frustration as well as not being understood.
Do You Agree? Is Going To The Counsellor Still A Taboo?