The disorder of...anger?

I was listening to a morning talk show on the radio once, and they had a guest on there who was from "Men's Health" magazine (which always has a tag on the cover saying either "better abs" or "better sex", or both). She talked about a new study that had come out stating that men are angrier now more than ever, especially after the Virginia Tech massacre. I was not happy at hearing the first part, but the fact that she mentioned the VT massacre surprised me. So, I'll address both of these things separately.

1) I am not surprised that men are angrier than ever. Apparently, it has become so bad that we have a new mental disorder: Intermittent Explosive Disorder. This "disorder" just so happens to have the acronym IED, which makes me angry. Grrrr. Although I do believe that a few might have problems with something like this, I do not believe that all people labeled under it really have a disorder.

"People with intermittent explosive disorder have a problem with controlling their temper. In addition, their violent behavior is out of proportion to the incident or event that triggered the outburst. Impulsive acts of aggression, however, are not unique to intermittent explosive disorder. Impulsive aggression can be present in many psychological and nonpsychological disorders. The diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is essentially a diagnosis of exclusion, which means that it is given only after other disorders have been ruled out as causes of impulsive aggression.
Patients diagnosed with IED usually feel a sense of arousal or tension before an outburst, and relief of tension after the aggressive act. Patients with IED believe that their aggressive behaviors are justified; however, they feel genuinely upset, regretful, remorseful, bewildered or embarrassed by their impulsive and aggressive behavior."


http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Intermittent-explosive-disorder.html


"According to Dr. Aaron Beck, a pioneer in the application of cognitive therapy to violence-prone individuals, most people diagnosed with IED believe that other people are basically hostile and untrustworthy, that physical force is the only way to obtain respect from others, and that life in general is a battlefield. Beck also identifies certain characteristic errors in thinking that go along with these beliefs:

-Personalizing. The person interprets others' behavior as directed specifically against him.

-Selective perception. The person notices only those features of situations or interactions that fit his negative view of the world rather than taking in all available information.

-Misinterpreting the motives of others. The person tends to see neutral or even friendly behavior as either malicious or manipulative.

-Denial. The person blames others for provoking his violence while denying or minimizing his own role in the fight or other outburst."

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/intermittent_explosive_disorder.jsp

Now wait a minute here...

"Some adult patients with IED appear to benefit from cognitive therapy. A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that cognitive approaches that challenged the patients' negative views of the world and of other people was effective in reducing the intensity as well as the frequency of violent episodes. With regard to gender roles, many of the men reported that they were helped by rethinking 'manliness' in terms of self-control rather than as something to be 'proved' by hitting someone else or damaging property."

"As of 2002, preventive strategies include educating young people in parenting skills, and teaching children skills related to self-control. Recent studies summarized by an article in a professional journal of psychiatry indicate that self-control can be practiced like many other skills, and that people can improve their present level of self-control with appropriate coaching and practice."

(Same source as first)

So why are we labeling this as a "disorder"? Am I not up-to-beat on the latest definition? If preventative measures include teaching children about self-control, can we put a lot of faith in this statement? If effective treatment includes teaching a man how to really be a man, what are we talking about here?

"In sum, there is a substantial amount of convincing evidence that IED has biological causes, at least in some people diagnosed with the disorder."

I know that there are a few people out there who can have such problems that are caused by biological factors, but how many people does "some" include?

To me this looks like another result of the breakdown of the family. If daddy is on drugs and doesn't control himself in front of Junior with the drugs or anger, where is Junior going to learn how to use self-control? If someone doesn't teach daddy how to lead his family and set the biggest example his kids will probably ever have, what's going to happen?

2) When I first heard the news of the Virginia Tech massacre, I was shocked. Then as I listened live on the radio for the next few hours, I heard the body count tally up from a dozen to over thirty. This, naturally, made me sad. But it also made me mad. It made a lot of people mad. From the words spoken by the representative from Men's Health, it seems like that was a bad thing.

What has happened to righteous anger in this country? Why has passivity gone so far over the edge that it almost cannot be classified as such? Why do people spend money and time watching things such as UFC, where "fighters" beat the mess out of each other in a street-fighting style without real gloves or protection? Bones have been broken, blood has been spilled, and people have literally been knocked out in these competitions. Why do we cheer on our favorite "fighter" while we are too scared to do anything about a gunman? Why are there so few people who stand up to bullies? Why does a teacher have to die for his students while every single one of them jump out the windows? Why is a gunman allowed to continue down a hall to shoot ten more people while thirty sit in a classroom, listening to the sounds of screams, gunshots, pleas for help, and bullets hitting flesh?
WHY?
Because as angry as people are these days, they are too scared to act upon it when the time comes. Our society has grown so fond of fighting and violence, yet the right kind of violence is shunned. I saw a story of an older man being car-jacked a few weeks ago. While he was lying on the ground in a heap being pushed around by the car-jacker, onlookers sat there and stared. We have become so obsessed with the wrong kind of violence that we do not act out the right kind. The same thing has happened with sex. Sex was designed to glorify God within the bounds of marriage, but we have so distorted it that it has become just another thing to do, just like beating up your opponent until he passes out. The right kind of sex has been shunned by our society, just like the right kind of violence.


Just an interesting thought on this lovely Saturday...