Pharmacological management of aggression and violence

Humble, Felicity; Berk, Michael

doi:10.1002/hup.504

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Such interventions have been common in psychiatry for aggressive patients. Yet, recent reviews of randomized control studies have revealed only a weak effect (Goedhard et al, 2006;Humble and Berk, 2003). More optimistic findings exist where particular DSM disorders, with accompanying aggression, are targeted.…”

Section: Pharmacological Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drugs and Aggression Readily Mix; So What Now?

Pihl

Sutton

2009

Substance Use & Misuse

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Intoxicated aggression is both a dangerous and a costly problem for society, with alcohol being involved in over 50% of violent crimes, and the cost of alcohol-consumption-related crime being estimated at $205 billion in the United States alone. First, the authors reviewed the substantial evidence for the connection between alcohol consumption and aggression, and then they examined the risk factors for this problem. These included societal/cultural factors, such as availability and alcohol expectancies, and individual factors, such as demographic characteristics, personality, comorbid disorders, individual differences in response to alcohol, and cognitive functioning. Finally, interventions were suggested focusing on policy, alcohol sellers, treatments for alcohol abuse and dependency, anger management, pharmacology, and low executive functioning. Further efforts are still needed to target interventions to specific risk factors.

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Section: Pharmacological Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Drugs and Aggression Readily Mix; So What Now?

Pihl

Sutton

2009

Substance Use & Misuse

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“…67,68 The more recently developed so-called atypical neuroleptics are measured in terms of their efficacy, potency, and selectivity relative to the traditional so-called typical compounds such as haloperidol and chlorpromazine which were introduced five decades ago and still serve as benchmarks for comparison. [69][70][71] A critical principle governing the pharmacotherapeutic approach to managing violent and aggressive individuals is the behavioral specificity through which these drugs reduce aggressive behavior. 18,72,73 The first-generation phenothiazines, butyrophenones and thioxanthenes, lower aggressive outbursts in a dose range that also engenders significant sedation and other side effects, and this unfavorable profile of drug action has led to the label of "chemical restraint" for these treatments.…”

Section: Dopamine and Serotonin: Typical And Atypical Neurolepticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escalated Aggressive Behavior: New Pharmacotherapeutic Approaches and Opportunities

Miczek

Faccidomo

Almeida

et al. 2004

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Psychopharmacologic studies of aggressive behavior in animals under controlled laboratory conditions have been instrumental in developing and evaluating specific and effective novel drug treatments that reduce aggressive behavior. An initial contribution of this research is to create experimental conditions that enable the display of aggressive and defensive acts and postures in species that engage in either dominance or territorial or maternal aggression. Quantitative ethological analyses allow the precise delineation of the sequential organization of aggressive bursts, providing a benchmark for assessing excessive or pathological forms of aggressive behavior. A second contribution of preclinical research is the development of experimental models of escalated forms of aggressive behavior, such as focusing on genetic predispositions or social provocations and frustrative experiences. A critical role of preclinical research is in the pharmacological and neurochemical analysis of aggressive behavior; for example, a host of undesirable side effects prompted a shift from classic dopaminergic neuroleptic compounds to the more recently developed atypical neuroleptics with effective and more specific anti-aggressive effects. The long-established role of brain serotonin in impulsive and escalated forms of aggressive behavior continues to be a focus of preclinical studies. New evidence differentiates dynamic state changes in corticolimbic serotonergic neurons during the termination of aggressive behavior from the deficient-serotonin trait in violence-prone individuals. It can be anticipated that currently developed tools for targeting the genes that code for specific subtypes of serotonin receptors will offer new therapeutic options for reducing aggressive behavior, and the 5-HT(1B) receptor appears to be a promising target. The modulation of GABA and GABA(A) receptors by 5-HT in corticolimbic neurons promises to be particularly relevant for specific forms of escalated aggressive behavior such as alcohol-heightened aggression.

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“…In this respect, aggression is viewed as an adaptation that can have key effects on the lifelong success of individuals and that conveys evolutionary fitness [2]. In humans, expression of aggression out of the appropriate context is, in contrast, currently recognised as one of the greatest and most challenging problems in society and has been identified as a key area for research and pharmacological intervention [3,4]. Despite the impacts of aggression in social systems and the plethora of studies in this area, its neurophysiological basis is not well understood in any species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling the neurophysiological basis of aggression in a fish model

et al. 2010

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BackgroundAggression is a near-universal behaviour with substantial influence on and implications for human and animal social systems. The neurophysiological basis of aggression is, however, poorly understood in all species and approaches adopted to study this complex behaviour have often been oversimplified. We applied targeted expression profiling on 40 genes, spanning eight neurological pathways and in four distinct regions of the brain, in combination with behavioural observations and pharmacological manipulations, to screen for regulatory pathways of aggression in the zebrafish (Danio rerio), an animal model in which social rank and aggressiveness tightly correlate.ResultsSubstantial differences occurred in gene expression profiles between dominant and subordinate males associated with phenotypic differences in aggressiveness and, for the chosen gene set, they occurred mainly in the hypothalamus and telencephalon. The patterns of differentially-expressed genes implied multifactorial control of aggression in zebrafish, including the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-system, serotonin, somatostatin, dopamine, hypothalamo-pituitary-interrenal, hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal and histamine pathways, and the latter is a novel finding outside mammals. Pharmacological manipulations of various nodes within the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-system and serotonin pathways supported their functional involvement. We also observed differences in expression profiles in the brains of dominant versus subordinate females that suggested sex-conserved control of aggression. For example, in the HNS pathway, the gene encoding arginine vasotocin (AVT), previously believed specific to male behaviours, was amongst those genes most associated with aggression, and AVT inhibited dominant female aggression, as in males. However, sex-specific differences in the expression profiles also occurred, including differences in aggression-associated tryptophan hydroxylases and estrogen receptors.ConclusionsThus, through an integrated approach, combining gene expression profiling, behavioural analyses, and pharmacological manipulations, we identified candidate genes and pathways that appear to play significant roles in regulating aggression in fish. Many of these are novel for non-mammalian systems. We further present a validated system for advancing our understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of complex behaviours using a fish model.

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Pharmacological management of aggression and violence

Cited by 22 publications

References 54 publications

Drugs and Aggression Readily Mix; So What Now?

Drugs and Aggression Readily Mix; So What Now?

Escalated Aggressive Behavior: New Pharmacotherapeutic Approaches and Opportunities

Unravelling the neurophysiological basis of aggression in a fish model

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