Evaluation and treatment of rage in children and adolescents

Rage is characterized by an unpredictable and primitive display of violence that is out of proportion to the provoking event and often threatens serious self-injury or harm to others. New insight into the pathogenesis of unpredictable violent behavior has been gained largely as a result of neurochemical, neuropsychological and brain imaging studies. This article examines episodic rage from a neuropsychiatric perspective. Three cases illustrating the evaluation and treatment of rage in childhood and adolescence are presented.