As a health care provider I am always keenly aware how important it is to keep an open, non-judgemental mind when it comes to certain illnesses. This is one of them I have trouble with.

Intermittent Explosive Disorder  (IED) is characterized by violent, aggressive outbursts of anger that are directed against other people. The response by the aggressor is out of proportion to the incident. Think being shot by someone because of road rage, or beating someone to death because you lost a game of cards. The majority of abusers are young males.

Anyway, when I read about this disorder I was immediately reminded of the lyrics by Steven Sondheim in the Leonard Bernstein classic “Officer Krupke” (from “West Side Story”). In it, a gang member is accused by the cop (Officer Krupke), judge and psychiatrist of alternately:

• being a delinquent
• having a social disease
• being psychologicl’y disturbed and
• sociologic’ly sick

In the end, it’s the social worker who says of the gang member, “It ain’t just a question of being misunderstood; deep down inside him he’s no good!”

Each generation tries to understand violent behaviour against the backdrop of the culture of its time. Back in the ’50s we called these aggressive young men delinquents; today we say they have “anger management issues” or suffer from “mood disorders”.

Yes it’s important to label things but although the label “Intermittent Explosive Disorder” invokes a strong visual image, all the labels in the world don’t help us understand, excuse or justify bad behaviour.