Abstract
This book written by two renowned scientists and consultant psychiatrists – Stringaris and Taylor – aims to be a practical and easy guide to understanding and treating children and adolescents who experience abnormal states of anger and it does its job in an efficient way. Interest in disruptive mood and irritability, especially in children and adolescents, has increased in the last few years. This can be explained by the interesting questions that still remain unanswered, such as:
Is irritability different from other symptoms?
Does it constitute a disorder in itself?
Is irritability a meaningful predictor of clinical outcomes?
Which psychiatric disorder has the strongest relationship with irritability?
What is the role of irritability in the recent debate about bipolar disorder in children and adolescents?
What are the neuromechanisms involved?
All these questions receive robust discussion throughout the book. According to the authors, irritability can be defined as a state of proneness to anger. It is one of the most common symptoms in youth and is part of the clinical presentation of several disorders. Irritability can present early in life and is a predictor of long-term psychopathology. Despite being a frequent complaint in clinics, schools and families, and a common reason for referral to a child health service, misdiagnosis and a lack of proper treatment are not uncommon. The authors provide a thorough treatment framework to help in the understanding of diagnostic nuances, and this is the major role of the book.
The book comprises 15 chapters and can be didactically summarised in three vast blocks: the first includes present data of definition, epidemiology, assessment, development, psychopathology and neurobiology of irritability and its impact on youth mental health; the second one discusses the interrelation between irritability and other psychiatric comorbidities; and the third is an exploration of clinical management and the outlook for irritability.
Even while acknowledging that strict treatment guidelines in this field might be problematic, this material could be used on a daily basis, as a quick and easy resource, and not merely as a theoretical text. There is a lot of scope for further publications that would go into greater detail as regards the proposed treatments, especially in the pharmacological field, in order to create a broader and even more useful guide for mental health professionals.
This book is a concise and accessible resource and is recommended to all those involved in youth mental health who are interested in disruptive mood and irritability.