An Exploratory Study on Intermittent Explosive Disorder Patients: Trends and Use of Outpatient Service in Diagnosis

Abstract

Much attention on Intermittent Explosive Disorder(IED) have been paid since many of infamous criminals were found to be suffering from the disease. Although various social debate exists with assumptions that IED patients are potential criminals, it is of surprise that no data-driven evidence about characteristics of IED patients exists or supports the fact. Therefore, this thesis aims to address the gap between looming social assumptions and actual evidence-based research and provide implications on treating IED patients. To understand the trends of IED in Korea, the paper explores IED diagnosis between 2002 to 2018, with National Health Insurance Service claim data, a national representative data. Next, the paper explores the vulnerable populations of IED. Finally, the paper deals with outpatient service use of IED patients, especially on outpatient visits to verify whether those who need treatments are actually taken care of. The result reports that while IED diagnosis has seen a steady increase for the last 17 years, patients with the disorder are usually men, young adults in their 20s, and likely to be either very rich or otherwise at the very bottom of economic class. However, those who actually sought treatment at the hospital, were not consistent with the actual vulnerable population of IED. The overall findings suggest that while IED patients are socially inferred as potential criminals, born with biological defects, there is a socio-demographic factors that contributes to IED diagnosis, implying that more empirical research should be conducted, with ideas on dealing with IED vulnerable population in the perspective of public health interventions.