Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:43:27.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Irritability: Definition, Assessment and Associated Factors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. P. Snaith  and
C. M. Taylor
R. P. Snaith*
Affiliation:
St James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF
C. M. Taylor
Affiliation:
Leeds Rotational Training Scheme
*
∗Correspondence.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The heading of ‘Irritable Mood’ was introduced into the Index Medicus in 1985 and it is noted that this term is frequently used but seldom defined. It is therefore important that a consensus is reached concerning its definition in the context of psychopathology and a definition is offered. It seems important to distinguish irritable mood and its outward manifestations from violently assaultive behaviour although there may be a continuum of disturbance from mildly to severely disordered behaviour. Irritability has so far not attracted much attention from clinicians and yet it is a common mood associated with many psychiatric and non-psychiatric conditions. Severe irritability may cause considerable distress both to the patient, his associates and sometimes also those attempting to treat or otherwise help him. It may overshadow other symptoms and the correct diagnosis and management may be missed. The validity and reliability of a convenient self-assessment scale is re-examined in the light of further data. Data from previous studies in the context of mood disorders suggests that irritability is a mood state which is independent of the other major moods of depression and anxiety; the severity of irritability probably has an inverse correlation with age. The most important associated factors are listed in order to inform researchers of the possible methodological pitfalls.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 2 , August 1985 , pp. 127 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1973) Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis, Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaugh, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, E. (1916) Lehrbuch Der Psychiatrie. Julius Springer.Google Scholar
Bond, A. & Lader, M. (1984) The pharmacology of aggression In Current Themes In Psychiatry, Vol. 3 (eds. Gaind, R. N., Fawzy, F. I., Hudson, B. L. & Pasnau, R.). London: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Buss, A. H. & Durkee, A. (1957) An inventory for assessing different kinds of hostility. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 343–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caine, T. M., Foulds, G. A. & Hope, K. (1967) Manual of The Hostility And Direction of Hostility Questionnaire. University of London Press.Google Scholar
Dalton, K. (1984) The Premenstrual Syndrome And Progesterone Therapy. 2nd ed. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R., Lipman, R. S. & Covi, L. (1973) SCL-90: An outpatient psychiatric rating scale. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 9, 13–27.Google ScholarPubMed
Devinsky, O. & Bear, D. (1984) Varieties of aggressive behaviour in temporal lobe epilepsy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 651–656.Google ScholarPubMed
Farid, B. T. (1985) Adverse mood states and obsessional phenomenology. British Journal of Psychiatry, (in press).Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1895) Ueber die Berechtigung von Neurasthenia einen bestimmten Symptomencomplex als ‘Angstneurose’ abzutrennen. Neurologie Zentralblatt, 14, 50–66.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, D. M. (1970) A standardized psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Gottschalk, L., Cleser, C. & Springer, K. (1963) Three hostility scales applicable to verbal samples. Archives of General Psychiatry, 9, 254–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1959) The assessment of anxiety states by rating. The British Journal of Medical Psychology, 32, 50–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1967) The development of a scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaspers, K. (1913–46) Allgemeine Psychopathologie (Translated as General Psychopathology, (Hoenig, J. & Hamilton, M. W.) (1963) Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Kearns, N. P., Cruickshank, C. A., McGuigan, K. J., Riley, S. A., Shaw, S. P. & Snaith, R. P. (1982) A comparison of depression rating scales. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 45–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellner, R., Buckman, M. T., Fava, G. A. & Paihak, D. (1984) Hyperprolactinaemia, distress and hostility. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 759–763.Google ScholarPubMed
Leading Ariicle (1975) Tranquillizers causing aggression. British Medical Journal, i. 113–114.Google Scholar
Leff, J. & Vaughn, C. (1980) The interaction of life events and relatives expressed emotion in schizophrenia and depressive neurosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 146–153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lishman, W. A. (1978) Organic Psychiatry. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Millar, D. G. (1983) Hostile emotion and obsessional neurosis. Psychological Medicine. 13, 813–819.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1960) Clinical Psychiatry. London: Ballière. Tindall & Cassell.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Åsberg, M. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry. 134, 382–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moyer, K. E. (1976) The Psychology of Aggression. London: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Oswald, I. (1984) Question and answer. British Medical Journal, 188, 1511.Google Scholar
Overall, J. E. & Gorham, D. R. (1962) The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Psychological Reports. 10, 799–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1971) Classification of depressed patients: a cluster analysis derived grouping. British Journal of Psychiatry. 118, 275–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perris, C., Eismann, M., Ericsson, U., von Knorring, L. & Perris, H. (1983) Patterns of aggression in the personality structure of depressed patients. Archiv, für Psychiatrie und Nervenkr, 233, 89–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piti, B. (1968) Atypical depression following childbirth. British Journal of Psychiatry. 114, 1325–1335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snaith, R. P. (1981) Clinical Neurosis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Piti, B. Constaniopoulos, A. A., Jardine, M. Y. & McGuffin, P. (1978) A clinical scale for the self-assessment of irritability, anxiety and depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 164–171.Google Scholar
Piti, B. Baugh, S. J., Clayden, A. D., Husain, A. & Sipple, M. A. (1982) The Clinical Anxiety Scale: an instrument derived from the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry. 141, 518–523.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Klerman, G. L. & Paykel, E. S. (1971) Clinical Evaluation of hostility in depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 261–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weissman, M. M. & Paykel, E. S. (1974) Hostility In Depression In The Depressed Woman: A Study In Social Relationships. University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement And Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, R. L. (1984) Behaviour disorders following severe brain injury: their presentation and psychological management In Closed Head Injury; Psychological Social And Family Consequences (cd. Brooks, N.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.