How Do Anger and Impulsivity Impact Fast-Food Consumption in Transitional Age Youth?

Introduction: Consumption of fast food has been linked to psychiatric distress, violent behaviors, and impulsivity in adolescents. The relationship between eating fast food, anger, and impulsivity has not been widely investigated. The National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence community-based cohort consists of 831 youth, half at elevated risk factors for substance use disorders during adolescence, followed annually. Methods: Impulsivity using Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, and Sensation Seeking Impulsive Behavior scale from annual assessments was examined in relation to self-reported fast-food consumption frequency and mobile application questions of anger. This study tested the hypotheses that youth anger may be predicted by fast-food consumption frequency and impulsivity using multiple regression, in addition to whether adolescent fast-food consumption frequency may be predicted by anger and impulsivity. Results: Among youth, higher anger levels and impulsivity predicted greater frequency of fast-food consumption, and greater fast-food consumption frequency and impulsivity predicted higher anger levels. Conclusions: This study's longitudinal findings are consistent with those of other studies that have found fast-food consumption and anger associated with impulsivity and also reveal a bidirectional link between anger and fast-food consumption. These results may point attention to food selection considerations for those at risk of anger and poorer psychiatric outcomes.

Heightened threat perceptions and reduced stability in anxiety and fear among U.S. adults who carry handguns.

Firearm carrying is often motivated to provide safety and is correlated with increased anxiety related to elevated perceptions of the world as a dangerous place. No studies have investigated affective states among firearm owners as they occur in their natural environments. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine cognitive-affective states among firearm owners who carry handguns outside their home (n = 35), firearm owners who do not carry (n = 47), and non-firearm owners (n = 62). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire at baseline followed by EMA surveys of mood state with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) 6 times per day for 28 consecutive days. Carry handgun owners reported significantly higher threat perceptions, measured with the negative cognitions about the world subscale of the shortened Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), than no-carry handgun owners (Mdiff=2.0, 95% CI=0.8-2.0, d=0.45, p = .001) and non-owners (Mdiff=1.8, 95% CI=0.6-2.9, d=0.42, p = .003). Groups did not significantly differ in mean momentary mood ratings assessed via EMA but stability in high-arousal negative arousal was significantly reduced among carry handgun owners (F(2, 150)= 3.7, p = .026). Results suggest firearm owners who carry handguns view the world as especially dangerous, are more likely to experience shifts in anxiety and fear, and take longer to recover from periods of elevated anxiety and fear.

Laboratory assessment of aggression: The Taylor Aggression Paradigm in adults with and without a disorder of impulsive aggression.

INTRODUCTION: The modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) has been used to study impulsive aggression in experimental designs and has been relatively successful in addressing critiques of aggression paradigms; however, little has been done to examine the potential of using the TAP as a direct measure of aggression. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the TAP behavioral indexes as measures of aggression. METHODS: A community sample of 962 adults were divided into three groups based on diagnostic assessments: Intermittent Explosive Disorder; Non-Aggressive Psychiatric Disorder; or healthy controls. Participants then completed the TAP and self-report measures to assess construct validity. A subset of 47 participants completed a second TAP within one year to assess reliability. TAP indexes were based on number of "extreme" shocks selected (high shock index), average shock levels selected (mean shock index), and shocks levels selected without provocation (unprovoked aggression). RESULTS: Overall, TAP indexes were consistent and reliable. IED participants had the highest high shock and mean shock indexes of all groups (X2 = 49.93, p < 0.001). High shock index was related to trait aggression (ß = 0.184, p < 0.001) after including covariates; mean shock index had a trending association with trait anger (ß = 0.102, p = 0.059). CONCLUSION: TAP behavioral indexes demonstrated promising psychometrics as a measure of aggression. High shock index appears to be more strongly associated with aggressive behavior; mean shock index may better measure general hostile responding. Future research might include comparisons specifically with impulse control disorders.

Salivary cortisol awakening levels are reduced in human subjects with intermittent explosive disorder compared with controls.

BACKGROUND: The role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in human aggressive behavior is poorly characterized, though some studies report that, unlike depression, circulating or salivary levels of cortisol are low compared with controls. METHODS: In this study, we collected three salivary cortisol levels (two in the morning and one in the evening) on three separate days in 78 adult study participants with (n = 28) and without (n = 52) prominent histories of impulsive aggressive behavior. Plasma C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were also collected in most study participants. Aggressive study participants meet DSM-5 criteria for Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) while non-aggressive participants either had a history of a psychiatric disorder or no such history (Controls). RESULTS: Morning, but not evening, salivary cortisol levels were significantly lower in IED (p < 0.05), compared with control, study participants. In addition, salivary cortisol levels correlated with measures of trait anger (partial r = -0.26, p < 0.05) and aggression (partial r = -0.25, p < 0.05) but not with measures of impulsivity, psychopathy, depression, history of childhood maltreatment, or other tested variables that often differ in individuals with IED. Finally, plasma CRP levels correlated inversely with morning salivary cortisol levels (partial r = -0.28, p < 0.05); plasma IL-6 levels showed a similar, though not statistically significant (rp = -0.20, p = 0.12) relationship with morning salivary cortisol levels. CONCLUSION: The cortisol awakening response appears to be lower in individuals with IED compared with controls. In all study participants, morning salivary cortisol levels correlated inversely with trait anger, trait aggression, and plasma CRP, a marker of systemic inflammation. This suggests the present of a complex interaction between chronic-low level inflammation, the HPA axis, and IED that warrants further investigation.

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory markers and human aggression.

A growing body of work suggests that individuals with aggressive behavior and/or aggressive tendencies have evidence of chronic, low level, inflammation as manifested by elevated circulating levels of acute phase reactant proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines. While animal studies report that direct application of pro-inflammatory proteins in brain increase aggressive behavior, there is no data on the relationship of central levels of these proteins and aggression in human subjects. We simultaneously measured levels of both plasma and lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in 77 medically healthy, drug-free, individuals with varying degrees of aggression including 22 individuals with DSM-5 Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Aggression was assessed using the Life History of Aggression (LHA) and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ). Plasma and CSF levels of CRP, IL-8, and TNF-α, but not IL-6, correlated significantly with each other. Aggressive individuals with IED displayed elevated plasma, but not CSF, levels of proinflammatory markers and this relationship was specific to IED. Similarly, composite aggression scores correlated significantly with plasma, but not CSF, pro-inflammatory markers. Aggressive behavior in humans is correlated with Plasma, but not CSF, proinflammatory markers despite the observation that these two sets of markers are significantly correlated. Since the direct application of proinflammatory proteins in brains of animals increase aggressive behavior, proinflammatory proteins likely influence brain-based behavior in a manner not reflected in lumbar CSF.

Childhood and parental characteristics of adults with DSM-5 intermittent explosive disorder compared with healthy and psychiatric controls.

BACKGROUND: Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) is a disorder primarily of aggression, defined by recurrent behavioral outbursts out of proportion to provocations or stressors. IED first appears in childhood and adolescence. This study examines the underlying childhood environment of those with IED, particularly familial and school-related factors. METHODS: Adult participants from a larger study completed diagnostic assessments and a battery of self-report measures. Group assignment was based on the assessment: 1) IED diagnosis; 2) non-IED psychiatric diagnosis; and 3) no significant psychiatric history. Groups were compared on factors of parental demographics, intrafamilial aggression, lifetime syndromal and personality diagnoses, neurodevelopmental and learning difficulties, childhood peer relationships, and juvenile legal issues. RESULTS: Significant patterns emerged specific to IED for not being raised by both parents, greater physical aggression to participant, and greater degree of fighting with peers by age ten. LIMITATIONS: The retrospective, and cross-sectional, nature of the study, which prevent the making of causal inferences, and the basic nature of the questions asked of participants which limit a more nuanced interpretation of the data. A further limitation is bias associated with self-reported responses. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest the prevalence childhood adversaries may be linked with IED; the childhood environment of those with IED likely is substantially more tumultuous than individuals with or without other psychiatric disorders.

Defining the p-factor: an empirical test of five leading theories.

BACKGROUND: Despite statistical evidence of a general factor of psychopathology (i.e., p-factor), there is little agreement about what the p-factor represents. Researchers have proposed five theories: dispositional negative emotionality (neuroticism), impulsive responsivity to emotions (impulsivity), thought dysfunction, low cognitive functioning, and impairment. These theories have primarily been inferred from patterns of loadings of diagnoses on p-factors with different sets of diagnoses included in different studies. Researchers who have directly examined these theories of p have examined a subset of the theories in any single sample, limiting the ability to compare the size of their associations with a p-factor. METHODS: In a sample of adults (N = 1833, Mage = 34.20, 54.4% female, 53.3% white) who completed diagnostic assessments, self-report measures, and cognitive tests, we evaluated statistical p-factor structures across modeling approaches and compared the strength of associations among the p-factor and indicators of each of these five theories. RESULTS: We found consistent evidence of the p-factor's unidimensionality across one-factor and bifactor models. The p-factor was most strongly and similarly associated with neuroticism (r = .88), impairment (r = .88), and impulsivity (r = .87), χ2(1)s < .15, ps > .70, and less strongly associated with thought dysfunction (r = .78), χ2(1)s > 3.92, ps < .05, and cognitive functioning (r = -.25), χ2(1)s > 189.56, ps < .01. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss a tripartite definition of p that involves the transaction of impulsive responses to frequent negative emotions leading to impairment that extends and synthesizes previous theories of psychopathology.

Cognitive-Behavioral Versus Supportive Psychotherapy for Intermittent Explosive Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Few clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of psychotherapy for Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). The present study tested the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention (versus supportive psychotherapy) among adults with IED. In this randomized clinical trial, 44 participants with IED (22 men and 22 women) aged 20-55 years completed twelve 50-minute individual sessions of either a multi-component cognitive behavioral intervention for IED (n = 19) or a time equated supportive psychotherapy (n = 25). At baseline, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up, all participants received the Overt Aggression Scale-Modified, which was conducted by an interviewer who was blind to the participant's study condition. During these visits, participants also completed self-report measures of relational aggression (Self-Report of Relational Aggression and Social Behavior), anger (State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2), cognitive biases (e.g., Social Information Processing Questionnaire Attribution and Emotional Response Questionnaire), and associated symptoms (e.g., Beck Depression Inventory). Primary study outcomes were aggressive behavior and anger. Though participants in both treatments tended to improve over time, the cognitive behavioral intervention was superior to supportive psychotherapy in decreasing aggressive behavior and relational aggression. These findings support the efficacy of a multicomponent cognitive behavioral intervention in treating aggression in IED.

Life history of experienced and witnessed aggression: Development of a new assessment instrument.

A Lifetime History of Experienced Aggression and a Lifetime History of Witnessed Aggression assessment was developed and its psychometric properties examined in a modest sample of individuals with and without history of psychopathology. Following this, the two assessments were administered to 400 subjects with or without histories of major psychiatric and personality disorders. These studies demonstrated good to excellent psychometric properties as well as evidence of convergent and divergent validity. Since both assessments quantify the occurrence of aggressive behaviors directed at a person and the occurrence of aggressive behaviors witnessed, the researchers propose that these assessments represents a needed modular assessment of aggression in the environment for behavioral science research.

Parental separation and death during childhood as predictors of adult psychopathology: An examination of racial differences.

OBJECTIVE: Parental separation and parental death during childhood are common but understudied forms of adverse childhood events (ACEs), thus little is known about the impact on psychological functioning in adulthood. We examined whether parental death and parental separation during childhood was associated with risk of diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or personality disorders during adulthood. Second, we compared parental separation and parental death and psychopathology across African Americans (N = 499) and Whites (N = 782). METHOD: The sample consists of 1,211 participants (n = 669 females). Diagnostic interviews were administered by master's or doctorate-level degree holders in Clinical Psychology or Social Work. There was good to excellent interrater reliabilities (mean kappa of .84 ± .05; range: .79-.93) spanning anxiety, mood, anxiety, trauma, and personality disorders. RESULTS: White participants reporting parental separation during childhood were more likely to report depressive disorders (OR = 2.151, p < .001), PTSD (OR = 2.218, p < .01) and personality disorders (OR = 1.764, p < .001) during adulthood. African American endorsement of parental separation during childhood did not predict depressive disorders (OR = 1.21, p = .357), anxiety disorders (OR = 1.107, p = .659), PTSD (OR = 1.351, p = .425) or personality disorders (OR = 1.432, p = .098) during adulthood. Overall, participants who reported parental death did not have significantly higher rates of depressive disorders (OR = 1.100, p = .668), anxiety disorders (OR = 1.357, p = .207), PTSD (OR = 1.351, p = .425), and personality disorders (OR = 1.432, p = .098). CONCLUSIONS: Parental separation was a significant risk factor for adult psychopathology, but only for White participants. Parental death was not a risk factor for adult psychopathology no matter the person's race. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) poses risk to the neurocognitive, emotional, and financial well-being of affected individuals. While aggression and impulsivity have been examined in relation to mTBI, little work has been done to evaluate the relationship between history of mTBI and personality disorder (PD). The authors examined the associations between history of mTBI and PD in a control group without history of mTBI (N = 1189) and individuals with history of mTBI (N = 267). Results demonstrated that any PD diagnosis is a significant risk factor for mTBI (p < 0.001). Cluster B diagnoses, particularly borderline and antisocial PD, were independently significant risk factors for mTBI. These data suggest a role for screening for a history of mTBI in patients with PDs and associated traits.

Diabetes distress, emotional regulation, HbA1c in people with diabetes and A controlled pilot study of an emotion-focused behavioral therapy intervention in adults with type 2 diabetes.

AIM: One potential barrier for people with diabetes to reach glycemic goals is diabetes distress. Accumulating evidence suggests diabetes distress may be linked to individuals' emotion regulation capacities. Thus, we conducted two studies to elucidate a model for how emotion regulation impacts diabetes distress and A1c levels and determine preliminary effect size estimates for an intervention targeting poor emotion regulation on glycemic control. METHODS: Study I used structural equation modeling to assess the cross-sectional relationships between these variables in a sample of 216 individuals with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Study II built on findings from Study I that highlighted the role of emotion regulation capacities in diabetes distress and A1c by conducting a pilot study of an emotion-focused behavioral intervention compared to treatment as usual in a sample of individuals with Type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: Study I examined two potential explanatory models with one of the models (Model II) showing a more comprehensive view of the data revealing a total effect of poor emotional regulation of 42% of all effects on A1c levels. Study II tested an emotion-focused behavioral intervention in patients with Type 2 diabetes compared to treatment as usual and found medium sized reductions in A1c levels and smaller reductions in diabetes distress that correlated with changes in emotion regulation. CONCLUSIONS: These studies suggest that, in people with diabetes, elevated A1c levels and diabetes distress are linked with poor emotion regulation. While the effect sizes from Study 2 are preliminary, an emotion-focused behavioral intervention may reduce both A1c and diabetes distress levels, through improvements in emotion regulation. Overall, these data suggest that targeting difficulties in emotion regulation may hold promise for maximizing improvement in diabetes distress and A1c in individuals with diabetes.

Neuronal responses in social-emotional information processing in impulsive aggressive individuals.

How we perceive and interpret signals from others' behavior, known as social-emotional information processing (SEIP), is key when responding to social threat. Impulsively aggressive individuals, behaviorally, demonstrate impaired SEIP for encoding relevant social stimuli, attribution of intent of the other person in the interaction, and responding negatively to potentially threatening social situations. In this study, we sought to explore how neural processing differs between healthy controls (HC) and individuals with impulsive aggressive behavior (individuals with Intermittent Explosive Disorder, I-IED), during a validated SEIP paradigm. Forty-five adults (19 I-IED, 26 HC) participants underwent a validated SEIP tasks during an fMRI scan. The task utilized video clips depicting a socially ambiguous, but possibly aggressive (AGG), act by one person to another and control video clips in which where possibly aggressive act does not occur (CON). Behavioral anomalies in SEIP are also manifest in altered neural activation in distributed networks/brain regions in each phase of SEIP examined. Overall, neural responses during the SEIP paradigm were characterized as reduced discrimination of the AGG vs. CON videos for I-IEDs compared to HCs. These data suggest the presence of compromised neural circuits underlying impaired social cognition in individuals with IED and highlights potential neural targets of intervention for impaired social cognition in I-IED and other behavioral disorders as well.

Associations of agression and use of caffeine, alcohol and nicotine in healthy and aggressive individuals.

BACKGROUND: Caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine are the three most commonly used psychoactive substances in the world. Given the known propensity of these substances to influence behavior, the relationship between these substances and aggressive and impulsive behaviors, in particular is of interest. METHODS: 1062 adult individuals participated in this study including those with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) and non-aggressive healthy (HC) and psychiatric (PC) controls. Data regarding current and life use of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine were recorded as were responses on measures of aggression, anger, and impulsivity. RESULTS: Dimensional measures of aggression, anger, and impulsiveness were variably but significantly related to the consumption of these commonly used psychoactive substances. These findings were generally mirrored when using the categorical construct of IED. Finally, these findings were not due to comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm a link between these externalizing behaviors and these three legal and commonly consumed psychoactive substances in clinically relevant individuals.

Assessment of subjective sleep quality and issues in aggression: Intermittent Explosive Disorder compared with psychiatric and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: While prior research has linked clinical sleep issues and aggression, little is known about how clinical sleep issues among individuals with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), which is characterized by a pervasive pattern of impulsive aggression and associated with consequences across multiple life-domains. The present study aims to examine clinical sleep issues among individuals with IED in contrast to individuals with other psychopathology and healthy controls. METHODS: 257 adults, including 100 healthy controls, 85 psychiatric controls and 72 individuals with IED, took part in this study. Participants completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V Diagnoses, Assessment of clinical sleep issues included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) screening, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) as well as assessments of aggression and impulsivity. RESULTS: IED study participants reported significantly worse sleep quality, increased sleep latency, greater daytime sleepiness and symptoms of OSA. Daytime sleepiness and sleep quality was correlated with impulsivity and aggression. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that individuals with IED have clinically relevant sleep anomalies, and that these are directly associated with measures of impulsivity and aggression. Clinicians treating aggressive individuals are advised to assess and treat such individuals for sleep issues.

Gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in impulsive aggression: Intermittent explosive disorder compared with non-aggressive healthy and psychiatric controls.

Evidence of chronic, systemic, low levels of inflammation is present in several stress-related psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia, depression, and intermittent explosive disorder (IED). We analyzed leukocyte gene expression (mRNA) to quantify the activity of pro and anti-inflammatory signaling pathways. Work performed in non-aggressive populations has uncovered a Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) characterized by an upregulation of pro-inflammatory gene transcription in chronically stressed individuals. We used pathway-based bioinformatic analyses of genome-wide transcriptional profiles of peripheral blood leukocyte samples from IED study participants (N = 45) and controls [healthy (n = 45) and psychiatric (n = 34)], with analyses focusing on the pro-inflammatory transcription control pathway mediated by the NF-kB family of transcription factors (typically upregulated in CTRA) and the antiviral transcription control pathway mediated by anti-viral response (IRF) family transcription factors (typically downregulated in CTRA). Compared with both healthy and psychiatric controls, individuals with IED had upregulated transcriptional activity of the antiviral response (IRF), but no evidence of pro-inflammatory NF-kB activation. Analyses implicated CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells, and B lymphocytes in IED-related transcriptional alterations, but showed no significant indication of monocyte involvement. This suggests that the inflammatory profile of IED differs substantially from that observed previously in other stress-related disorders, and may involve a pathogen-driven adaptive immune etiology.

Gender Differences in the Relationship between Anger and Aggressive Behavior.

Evidence is mixed regarding differences in prevalence of aggressive behavior, with many (though not all) studies suggesting that men are more aggressive than women. Furthermore, while aggression often occurs in response to provocation-induced anger, this relationship may be stronger for men; women may be more likely to engage in non-aggressive (e.g., affiliative) behaviors in response to provocation, particularly at low-level provocation. This study examined gender differences in aggression as well as differences in the relationship between anger and aggression for men and women. Adults (N = 424) participated in a behavioral aggression task, and a subset of participants (n = 304) completed a questionnaire assessing trait levels of anger as part of a larger study at a large midwestern university. Results indicated that while men and women aggressed at similar levels, aggression was significantly associated with trait anger for men only, at low levels of provocation, with only a trending relationship for high provocation. This suggests that while men and women may be equally aggressive in certain situations, this behavior may be differentially associated with anger.

Gender Moderates the Association Between Exposure to Interpersonal Violence and Intermittent Explosive Disorder Diagnosis.

Exposure to interpersonal violence (EIV) is a prevalent risk-factor for aggressive behavior; however, it is unclear whether the effect of EIV on clinically significant aggressive behavior is similar across gender. We examined whether gender moderates the association between experiencing and witnessing interpersonal violence and the diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder (IED). We also examined potential pathways that might differentially account for the association between EIV and IED in men and women, including emotion regulation and social information processing (SIP). Adult men and women (N = 582), who completed a semistructured clinical interview for syndromal and personality disorders, were classified as healthy controls (HC; n = 118), psychiatric controls (PC; n = 146) or participants with an IED diagnosis (n = 318). Participants also completed the life history of experienced aggression (LHEA) and life history of witnessed aggression (Lhwa) structured interview and self-report measures of emotion regulation and SIP. Men reported more EIV over the lifetime. In multiple logistic regression analysis, experiencing and witnessing aggression within the family and experiencing aggression outside the family were associated with lifetime IED diagnosis. We found that the relationship between EIV and IED was stronger in women than in men. Affective dysregulation mediated certain forms of EIV, and this relation was observed in both men and women. SIP biases did not mediate the relation between EIV and IED. EIV across the lifespan is a robust risk factor for recurrent, clinically significant aggressive behavior (i.e., IED). However, the relationship between EIV and IED appears to be stronger in women. Further, this relation appears partially mediated by affective dysregulation.

Neural responses to induced emotion and response to social threat in intermittent explosive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with intermittent explosive disorder (IED) are reported to exhibit amygdala (AMYG) hyper-activation to anger faces during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  However, it remains unknown if emotional experience is different in study participants with IED compared with healthy controls (HC).  Thus, we examined the comparative effect of pleasant and unpleasant IAPS pictures in IED and HC individuals. METHOD: Eighty study participants (40 IED and 40 HC) underwent fMRI scanning while viewing blocks of angry and happy faces and while viewing blocks of pleasant and unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). RESULTS: Compared with HC participants, IED participants exhibited greater AMYG responses to angry, but not happy, faces; IED and HC participants, however, did not differ in AMYG responses to pleasant or unpleasant IAPS pictures.  There were no group differences in Orbital-Frontal Cortical (OFC) responses to emotional faces or IAPS pictures other than a significantly higher OFC response pleasant, compared with unpleasant, IAPS pictures. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that, compared with healthy individuals, those with IED have a hypersensitive amygdala to social-emotional threat but that this characteristic does not extend to neural responses related to the experience of emotion in the context of the paradigms tested.

Emotion attribution in intermittent explosive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Accurate recognition of the emotions of others is an important part of healthy neurological development and promotes positive psychosocial adaptation. Differences in emotional recognition may be associated with the presence of emotional biases and can alter one's perception, thus influencing their overall social cognition abilities. The present study aims to extend our collective understanding of emotion attribution abnormalities in individuals with Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). METHODS: Two-hundred and forty-two adults participated, separated into groups of those diagnosed with IED according to DSM 5 criteria, Psychiatric Controls (PC), and Healthy Controls (HC). Participants completed a modified version of the Emotional Attribution Task wherein they attributed an emotion to the main character of a short vignette. RESULTS: Participants with IED correctly identified anger stories and misattributed anger to non-anger stories significantly more often than PC and HC participants. They were also significantly less likely than HC participants to correctly identify "sad stories." LIMITATIONS: We utilized self-report assessments in a community-recruited sample. Replication in a clinical is suggested. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study support the validity of IED as a diagnostic entity and provide important information about how individuals with psychiatric disorders perceive and experience emotional cues.