Unknowingly Becomes a Symptom of Impulsive Control Disorder

“Someone who often acts without thinking about any consequences beforehand may have an impulsive control disorder. Impulsivity is a person’s tendency to act without thinking about the risks that might occur.

Halodoc, Jakarta – Impulsivity is a form of behavior when a person acts according to his instincts without thinking about the risks that might occur first. This behavior is often equated with compulsion, but the two are certainly not the same.

Simply put, impulsivity is a form of behavior that is carried out without a plan. Examples of impulsive behavior include kleptomania, difficulty resisting aggression, trichotillomania or pulling one’s hair, and pyromania.

Difference between Impulsive and Compulsive Behavior

To be clearer, here is the difference between impulsive and compulsive behavior in more detail:

Impulsive behavior

Impulsivity is being fast and acting suddenly according to the movement of the heart. So, if someone suddenly experiences a change in behavior without any strong reason. Generally, someone who has an impulsive nature tends to show unreasonable or irrational behavior.

compulsive behavior

Meanwhile, compulsive behavior is a problem of anxiety when a person always has uncontrollable thoughts and performs certain actions continuously and repeatedly. This condition can make sufferers experience stress and interfere with daily activities.

An example is someone who has obsessive compulsive disorder or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). You can get complete information about this health disorder by reading the OCD article.

Causes of Impulsive Behavior

New impulsive actions are said to be psychological disorders if the behavior shown appears in a more frequent frequency or feels difficult to control. Until now, experts do not know exactly what causes a person to experience this behavior.

However, there are several psychiatric conditions that can increase a person’s risk of experiencing impulsive actions, namely:

• Bipolar.
• Parkinson’s disease.
• Kleptomania.
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
• Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP).

Impulsive Control Disorder Symptoms

Someone who has an impulsive attitude often does things according to their wishes without considering what the consequences will be. When a desire arises to do something, an easy example like shopping, the perpetrator will immediately do it without much consideration. The symptoms of someone who has impulsive behavior are:

• Tend to indulge in things, such as overeating or shopping that isn’t really necessary.
• Doing acts of destroying one’s own or other people’s belongings when emotional or angry.
• Talking without thinking about the effect it has on others.
• Tend to hurt themselves when feeling disappointed, angry, or sad.
• Scream when feeling excessively stressed.
• Has difficulty concentrating and getting work done.

Meanwhile, in children and adolescents, impulsive actions can also be observed in several ways. For example, a child who can’t stay still tends to disturb other friends and has difficulty concentrating while studying.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Impulsive Behavior Disorder

If impulsive behavior has negative effects and harms other people, of course, you need the help of a psychiatrist, in this case a psychologist or psychiatrist. So, experts can determine whether this action occurs due to certain psychiatric problems.

If the results of the examination indicate that someone has behaved impulsively and leads to psychiatric problems, the expert will provide several treatment options. Some treatment options for impulsive behavior are:

Handling with Drugs

Impulsive behavior can be a sign of a psychiatric problem, including ADHD. You can read the article Impulsivity, Common Symptoms of ADHD to Watch Out for to find out what the link between impulsive behavior and this mental condition is.

Besides ADHD, another medical condition that has symptoms of impulsive behavior is bipolar disorder. If impulsive behavior occurs due to the condition of ADHD, the doctor can prescribe several types of drugs, for example methylphenidate, amphetamine, or dextroamphetamine.

Meanwhile, impulsive actions that arise because of bipolar disorder can be treated by giving antimania drugs. This drug has a function to increase concentration or focus and help overcome mental health problems that cause a person to behave impulsively.

Treatment with Psychotherapy

Apart from drug administration, another treatment for impulsive behavior is through psychotherapy, for example cognitive behavioral therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). This method aims to train and guide sufferers to reduce impulsive behavior disorders.

Don’t hesitate to contact a psychologist at Halodoc ✔️ or an expert doctor first to get the right follow-up treatment.

In addition, this method is also expected to improve the ability of sufferers to think before taking action. That way, the sufferer can think further about the impact of each of his actions.

In fact, a person can exhibit impulsive behavior, even just once in their life. However, if this behavior often occurs and has a negative impact on other people, of course the patient needs to get treatment.

Reference:

Very Well Minded. Retrieved 2020. What Is Impulsivity?

MedicalNewsToday. Retrieved 2020. Impulsive behavior: What happens in the brain?

WebMD. Retrieved 2020. What Is Impulsivity?

Healthy Children. Retrieved 2023. Common Symptoms of Hyperactivity/Impulsivity.

Updated on March 16, 2023