Saturday, June 10, 2006

Road Rage

I listen to NPR just about every morning on my way it to work. It's nice to listen to the news in the morning without having to hear about Brad and Angelina, or Tom and Katy. Anyway, earlier this week there was a interview with a Harvard professor and his contention that road rage is a diagnosable disorder called Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). One description of IED is "where a person had defined episodes of violence precipitated by little provocation." (mental health matters.com) Health AtoZ discribes IED as "IED causes violent behavior such as physical assult, destruction of property, and homicide or violent suicide. Violent, destructive behaviors often begin in childhood and escalate in adult life."

I'm not going to make light of mental disorders, but I feel this one in particular is a bit over the top. I'm sure there is some validity to it. From what I can remember from the story only about 7% or so of the population actually suffer from it. I'm concerned about what will happen when defense attorneys get ahold of this little nugget. It could easily be an excuse for just about any non-premeditated act of violence. Most importantly, it allows people to no longer have responsibility for their actions. That is scary. There are no physical symptoms, so there are no blood tests, urine tests, cat scans or any other type of physical test that could prove or disprove that someone is afflicted. Basically, if you can get a psychologist to say you have IED then you're more of less free to behave however you wish. It's a crutch in a very socially unacceptable way. And thinking of all the ways this disorder could wreak havoc on the general public is intimidating at the least. Acts of road rage, as the story was originally about, could be explained away and possibily excused. It would be much better if once someone is diagnosed with this disorder then their drivers license is revoked. Other physical impairments cause people to lose their drivers license, so why not this one? But it goes far beyond road rage. What about child abuse? Assult? Murder? Would people no longer be held accountable for their actions if they are diagnosed with this disorder? Treatment involves therapy and drugs. So if someone refuses treatment, or says their treatment isn't work, what then? It's all very scary.

I think this disorder should be removed from the list of mental disorders, or retermed as a "temper problem" and the name "Intermittent Explosive Disorder" go to some sort of gastrointestinal or digestive problem. I can see it now, sitting in a restaurant and someone at the next table just lets out a horrible rumbling noise from either the 'attic or the basement', and then says, "Oh excuse me, I have Intermittent Explosive Disorder."