Russ Roberts on Intermittent Explosive Disorder: Mental Illness or Made-Up Malady?

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2006

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

Russ Roberts looks at the economics and science of intermittent explosive disorder--violent rage out of proportion to its cause. Was the recent study that discovered this problem good science or unreliable? Was the media coverage of the study accurate? How do state insurance regulations create incentives for intellectual dishonesty?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, coming to you from the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:05.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of George Mason University.
0:08.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:10.0	If you have any comments or feedback, please send me an email at Roberts at GMU.edu.
0:15.0	You can find more Econ Talk at www.econtalk.org,
0:20.0	along with readings and links related to this podcast.
0:24.0	My topic for today is Intermittent Explosive Disorder.
0:29.0	That's either a newly discovered mental condition or simply a fancy bit of psychiatric jargon for getting really angry.
0:36.0	In this podcast, I take a look at the science and economics behind this issue.
0:41.0	How reliable is the study that purports to identify this mental condition?
0:46.0	Is it science or is it simply a manufactured melody to encourage people to use the services of psychiatrists?
0:54.0	A study came out earlier this month, finding that as many as 7.3%.
0:59.0	I love that decimal point.
1:01.0	It's so accurate.
1:02.0	It's 7.3, not 7, not 8.
1:04.0	7.3% of Americans may be suffering from intermittent explosive disorder.
1:10.0	That's 16 million of us. That's pretty frightening.
1:13.0	The day after the study was released, there were almost 400 news stories on Google news describing that study.
1:22.0	The original study was published by the Archives of General Psychiatry, a very fancy scientific journal,
1:28.0	and it was heralded as a possible, this new disorder was heralded as a possible explanation for road rage and spousal abuse and other forms of violence and anger.
1:38.0	Here's what the Associated Press Story has had to say about it.
1:42.0	People think it's bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment.
	...

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