Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Email this article to a Colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Articles & Searches Download to citation manager Citing Articles via Google Scholar Articles by Bars, D. R. Articles by Munger, J. C. Search for Related Content PubMed Citation Articles by Bars, D. R. Articles by Munger, J. C. Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Impulse Control Disorders Conduct Disorders Other Violence/Aggression

Use of Visual Evoked-Potential Studies and EEG Data to Classify Aggressive, Explosive Behavior of Youths

OBJECTIVE: Data from electroencephalograms (EEGs), including data from visual evoked-potential studies, were analyzed to assess their association with a specific type of explosive behavior in children and adolescents. METHODS: Data for 326 children and adolescents treated in a psychiatric clinic were examined. Eighty-two percent exhibited behavior consistent with intermittent explosive disorder, although diagnosis was not an inclusion criterion for the study. The presence of explosive behaviors was indicated by reports from the legal system, schools, parents, health care workers, and psychiatric intake interviews. A quantitative EEG and a series of pattern-reversal evoked-potential studies were administered to each patient. In these studies, children are shown a rapidly reversing checkerboard pattern or rapid flashes of light, and their brain waves (evoked potentials) are measured. RESULTS: Logistic regression indicated that patients who exhibited explosive behaviors were significantly more likely to produce high-amplitude P100 wave forms in the evoked-potential studies than patients who did not exhibit explosive behaviors. Forty-six percent of those with explosive behaviors met the clinically defined electrophysiological criteria for the high-amplitude P100 wave forms. CONCLUSIONS: The use of visual evoked-potential studies helped us classify a large subset of youths who exhibited out-of-control explosive behaviors. The findings suggest that a subgroup of individuals exhibiting explosive behaviors may have a predisposition for violent or explosive behavior that is an innate characteristic of their central nervous system. An understanding of the etiology of explosive behaviors permits the use of more appropriate intervention and treatment strategies.

Get information about faster international access.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2001 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.

Home | Search | Current Issue | Past Issues | Subscribe | All APPI Journals | Help | Contact Us