Frequent rage attacks linked to smaller brain size

Washington D.C.: If you have an aggressive nature than you should know that Neuroimaging studies suggest that frontolimbic regions of the brain, structures that regulate emotions, play an important role in the biology of aggressive behaviour.

A new article reports that the individuals with intermittent explosive disorder have significantly lower the gray matter volume in these frontolimbic brain structures. In other words, these people have smaller emotional brains.

Article's lead author Dr. Emil Coccaro said that intermittent explosive disorder is defined in DSM-5 as recurrent, problematic, impulsive aggression. While more common than bipolar disorder and schizophrenia combined, many in the scientific and lay communities believe that impulsive aggression is simply bad behaviour that requires an attitude adjustment.

He added that their data confirmed that IED as defined by DSM-5 is a brain disorder and not simply a disorder of personality. Dr. Coccaro and his colleagues also reported a significant inverse correlation between measures of aggression and frontolimbic gray matter volume.

The article is published in the inaugural issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging reports that individuals with intermittent explosive disorder (IED).