Irritability as a Transdiagnostic Vulnerability Trait:Current Issues and Future Directions

Behavior Therapy
Theodore P Beauchaine, Jennifer L Tackett

Abstract

In recent years, irritability has received increasing attention among mental health professionals given its transdiagnostic associations with diverse forms of psychopathology. In contrast to other emotional states and traits, however, literature addressing associations between irritability and related temperament and personality constructs is limited. In addition, those who study irritability have diverse perspectives on its neurobiological substrates. In this comment, we situate irritability in the literatures on child temperament and adult personality, and describe a model in which irritability derives from low tonic dopamine (DA) levels and low phasic DA reactivity in subcortical neural structures implicated in appetitive responding. We note that different findings often emerge in neuroimaging studies when irritability is assessed in circumscribed diagnostic groups versus representative samples. We conclude with directions for future research, and propose that more authors use hierarchical Bayesian modeling, which captures functional dependencies between irritability and other dispositional traits (e.g., trait anxiety) that standard regression models are insensitive too. Treatment implications are also considered.

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Citations

Jun 12, 2020·Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology : the Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53·Theodore P Beauchaine, Stephen P Hinshaw
Jul 30, 2020·Australasian Psychiatry : Bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists·Saxby PridmoreTamara May
Mar 16, 2021·Development and Psychopathology·Tiffany M Shader, Theodore P Beauchaine
Mar 16, 2021·Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines·Jamilah SilverDaniel N Klein
Jun 1, 2021·Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America·Ellen M KesselDaniel N Klein
Jun 8, 2021·Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry·Ziv E BellUNKNOWN LAMS Consortium
Jun 18, 2021·Journal of Affective Disorders·Qimin LiuDavid A Cole
Jun 18, 2021·Behavior Therapy·Andrew G GuzickEric A Storch
Jul 20, 2021·Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience·Elizabeth S NortonLauren Wakschlag

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