Irritability Disorders in Adults: Diagnostic Categories Missing in Plain Sight?

This article proposes that the symptom of irritability might be productively reenvisioned as a focal point, analogous to anxiety and depression, around which irritability-related syndromes and disorders in adults might coalesce. If anxiety, depressive, insomnia, and pain disorders, why not irritability disorders? Both state and trait characteristics of irritability can lend themselves to DSM diagnostic frames. Based on clinical observations, specific irritability disorders in adults can be envisioned, modeled as Irritability Disorder of Adulthood, Irritability Disorder Secondary to Another Medical Condition, Substance-Induced Irritability Disorder, Adjustment Disorder With Irritable Mood, and the like. Further delineation of irritability phenomena, syndromes, and possible disorders in adults is warranted to advance investigation, guide assessment, and improve treatment.
Source: The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research