Today, we would like to talk about a condition that psychiatry and psychology refer to as Intermittent Explosive Disorder. It is a diagnosis often given these days to patients with a propensity to get very angry, or even violent, in response to the smallest of stimuli. But is Intermittent Explosive Disorder a useful and accurate diagnosis? What does IED really mean?
In our world of orthomolecular medicine, we talk about biochemical mechanisms that can lead to behavioral disorders, cognitive challenges, and even emotionality. Psychiatry and psychology traditionally talk about trauma in childhood, they will talk about serotonin issues, or they will talk about environmental circumstances as being direct causes or foundational issues that lead to Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Well, those of us in orthomolecular medicine say, “Hey, this is really Pyrrole Disorder.”
Pyrrole Disorder produces exactly the same symptoms that are typically recognized as Intermittent Explosive Disorder: severe moodiness, going from calm to anger or rage in the blink of an eye, overreacting to the smallest of stimuli. Anyone who has researched Pyrrole Disorder (and if you are reading this blog, chances are you are one of those people) is familiar with these symptoms. Anxiousness, depression, moodiness, light and sound sensitivity, and of course disproportionate overreactions that have friends and family members constantly walking on eggshells. These exact same symptoms regularly lead to an IED diagnosis from a psychiatrist or psychologist.
As we take an even closer orthomolecular look at these Intermittent Explosive Disorder symptoms, we recognize that there are other biochemical challenges beyond Pyrrole Disorder that can produce similar symptoms as well. One such biochemical imbalance is copper toxicity. Those of you who might have read some of our recent blogs that discuss copper concerns might be asking questions like, “Isn’t copper toxicity more prevalent in females, while IED is mostly a male diagnosis?” First of all, IED is a diagnosis given to female patients as well, but more importantly, as we discussed in one of those recent blog posts, males can absolutely be copper toxic. These males can be anxious, depressed, moody, rageful, and even violent – symptoms that could easily be misdiagnosed as Intermittent Explosive Disorder.
Here’s an interesting diagnostic sidenote when trying to determine if the orthomolecular cause of IED symptoms stem from copper toxicity or Pyrrole Disorder. A male with copper toxicity will often be impulsive, agitated, violent, extremely irritable, and overreactive to the smallest of stimuli. However, they will usually be remorseful about what happened. Whatever it is they did, they are very sorry that they did it. You don’t typically see that kind of remorse with Pyrrole Disorder.
A third biochemical imbalance that could be an underlying cause of Intermittent Explosive Disorder symptoms is one we actually know and discuss in traditional medicine, but we don’t always think about it in terms of a psychiatric disorder. It is called Reactive Hypoglycemia. I must confess that I live with this one. My family members, my friends, and even my staff know that I cannot go too long without eating something. Otherwise I might get to a certain point of Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar levels, and the smallest things can set me off. Talk about Bruce Banner turning into the Incredible Hulk – my Reactive Hypoglycemia rages can be just as bad. It comes on very suddenly. You may feel a gradual drop in sugar, but before you know it, someone does something simple or a situation presents itself and you overreact in a very strong and severe sort of way. People look at you and say, “What the heck is wrong with you?” Unfortunately, I speak from experience on this.
So, when we’re talking about Intermittent Explosive Disorder, I want you to move away from this idea that this is a mental health issue. It’s not about the mind. The brain and the body here are working, and reacting, together. They are responding to your biochemistry.
A common speculation with regard to Intermittent Explosive Disorder is that it may be a genetic phenomenon – that it can move through families. Well so can Pyrrole Disorder, copper toxicity, and Reactive Hypoglycemia. People of Celtic and Scandinavian descent have a strong genetic propensity for Pyrrole Disorder. If you are a copper toxic female, you can certainly pass on those detoxification challenges to your daughters or to your sons. And it doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl with regard to Reactive Hypoglycemia. Those tendencies are often passed on from generation to generation.
We’ve talked here about three very common and most likely candidates for what could be an underlying cause for your hyper-reactive over-sensitive, emotionally-dysregulated state. Let’s think about what lies underneath the emotionality rather than simply describing the symptoms, giving it a lovely name and then calling it a mental health disorder. Why is this important? Because those underlying causes are treatable! It’s not some mystical mental health phenomenon. Intermittent Explosive Disorder is actually about chemical imbalance that can be easily corrected. Treatments for Pyrrole Disorder or copper toxicity can generate real results within a few weeks to a few months. And if your symptoms are caused by Reactive Hypoglycemia, just go eat. Eat something decent and you’re going to be feeling much better, very quickly. Trust me, I know. Just remember that there are underlying causes for many of our emotionally dysregulated symptoms, and the symptoms of Intermittent Explosive Disorder are no exception. Let’s find that underlying cause, treat it, and then have a peaceful and balanced day.
