I am not alone in thinking that there is something intrinsically wrong with most commuter bus drivers and their foul-mouthed touts. It was not until I read an article in the Journal of Psychiatry that there are people who suffer from a disease that manifests itself when one is on the road. To you, that angry, swearing, horn-blasting, moron has road rage. But doctors have another name for it - intermittent explosive disorder or IED for short. A new study suggests it is far more common than we realised, affecting up to 47% of all drivers.
People think its bad behaviour and that one just needs an attitude adjustment, but what they don't know, writes Dr Emil Coccaro, chairperson of psychiatry at the University of Chicago's medical school, is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this. Road rage, temper outbursts that involve throwing or breaking objects and even spousal abuse can sometimes be attributed to the disorder, though not everyone who does those things is afflicted, thank God. The disorder typically first appears in adolescence; in the study, the average age of onset was 14. Remember throwing those tantrums at the toy shop when uBaba refused to buy you that 4x4 jeep toy car? Ehe!
By definition, intermittent explosive disorder involves multiple outbursts that are way out of proportion to the situation. These angry outbursts often include threats or aggressive actions and damage to property…and individuals. Sounds familiar? Now that places our dear commuter drivers and touts firmly in this sphere of illness, mental illness my dear friends and this is dead serious!
For instance I was shocked beyond words the other day when I eavesdropped – if one can call it that – on a casual conversation between a driver and his trusted companion (read uWindi) on how they would be able to afford a straight of brandy if they unilaterally raised the commuter fare to $150,000. Now, are these chaps sick or what? Which goes to show how unjustified some of the increases are, motivated by greed more than anything else.
Coccaro said the disorder involves inadequate production or functioning of serotonin, a mood-regulating and behaviour-inhibiting brain chemical. Treatment with anti-depressants, including those that target serotonin receptors in the brain, is often helpful, along with behaviour therapy akin to anger management.
Now these psychiatrists seem to have found that IED is more common than previously thought. Yeah, right! Thina, we knew it all along that these guys, and quite a sizeable number of drivers need help and fast before they kill someone.
Which reminds me of the following incident where a father, who worked away from home all week, always made a special effort with his family at the weekends. Every Sunday morning he would take his daughter out for a drive in the car. One particular Sunday however, he was so full of cold that he really didn't feel like driving at all. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and decided that for this week she would take their daughter out. They returned just before lunch and the little girl ran upstairs to see her father.
"Well" the father asked, "Did you enjoy your ride with mummy?"
"Oh yes Daddy" the girl replied, "And you know what... we didn't see a single bastard!"
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