Overlooked, neglected
Commenting on the findings, Nur Hani Zainal, PhD, department of healthcare policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, said the findings are “very consistent with the current biopsychosocial models in psychiatry and clinical psychology.”
Dr. Nur Hani Zainal
Dr. Zainal, who was coauthor of a recent study that showed that anger appears to mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and adult psychopathology, said the current study offers a “good, incremental contribution” to the literature.
She noted there are “good uses” for the emotion of anger, as “sometimes we need anger to set healthy boundaries for ourselves.” However, she agreed that, as an aspect of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, it is often “overlooked.”
Dr. Zainal said that the findings reinforce the importance of thoroughly evaluating adult patients’ experiences during childhood.
Julian Beezhold, MD, secretary general of the EPA and a consultant psychiatrist with the Norwich (England) Medical School, University of East Anglia, commented in the release that anger is a “somewhat neglected symptom.
“The findings are in line with what we see in day-to-day clinical practice and will hopefully help increase the awareness of the importance of both anger and associated childhood trauma.”
The infrastructure for the NESDA study is funded through the Geestkracht program of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development and financial contributions by participating universities and mental health care organizations. The authors disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.