Author(s): POTTER-EFRON R

Health & Self-help

It's been reported that around seven per cent of adults may suffer from a problem called intermittent explosive disorder (IED) during their lives. This disorder involves episodes of rage so intense that relationships, jobs, property and even lives can be lost in a single outburst. IED sufferers often report that they even lose conscious awareness of their behaviour during these episodes.

Obviously anyone who is stricken with diagnosable IED or even subclincial fits of rage needs help, and they need it as soon as possible. Unique in its genre, this much-needed book breaks down rage generally into three types: survival, impotent and abandonment or rejection rage. In the first type, the angry individual's behaviour is triggered by a sense of danger or threat; in the second, by a feeling of helplessness; and the third type is triggered by a fear of losing a cherished relationship.

After a brief discussion of the brain and how it functions during moments of extreme emotion, the book turns to the task of putting rage in check.