Intermittent Explosive Disorder - Tumblr Posts

Okay i don't care i'm reblogging my own post but i did BASIC RESEARCH on IED (intermittent explosive disorder) and Risperdal (an antipsychotic) and came to the conclusion that the writers of Teen Wolf should try something called 'looking up what the fuck they're talking about' every once in a while

(Please keep in mind that I am in no way a health professional, that all my informations come from various websites, and that therefore it's probably incorrect, so please correct me if any information is wrong or offensive or anything)

So from the show 'Teen Wolf', and the episode 04x05: I.E.D, we learn that Liam, Scott's newly turned beta, has been diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

Now we'll go to the scene right before that. Liam learns that his lacrosse team will be playing against his old school, and goes to talk with a previous teammate. When provoqued, Liam does not attack anyone -instead he digs his claws into his own skin-. Then he is taken to the lockers by Scott and Stiles, who BLAST WATER AT HIM. I've searched a lot of websites, and oddly enough, pushing someone under a shower to calm them down was never recommended. You know, people tend to advise actually talking to the person, giving them space, and not physically restraining them before throwing them under water. But, Liam is a werewolf, so we'll let that slide... i guess.

When confronted by Scott, Liam explains that he crashed his coach's car, after being benched for the whole season. He got kicked out for it, went for a psychiatric evaluation, and was diagnosed with IED.

Ok, so what exactly is Intermittent Explosive Disorder, and what is Risperdal, the antipsychotic Liam says he used to take?

Intermittent Explosive Disorder, or IED, is a mental health disorder that causes the individual to experience recurrent aggressive outbursts. These outbursts can lead to argumentative behaviours, shouting, altercations, threatening, physical assault, damage to property. The exact cause for the disorder is unknown, but some possible causes are brain chemistry, genetics, post traumatic stress disorder, trauma, or growing up in an abusive environment. Having this disorder can lead to an increased risk for impaired relationships, troubles at work/home/school, problems with substance use, physical health problems, and other mental disorders.

And, in order to treat it, Liam is given Risperdal.

He describes the drug as making him 'tired', hence why he stopped taking it... and, fun fact? Risperdal has lots of side effects. Like, a lot. And doesn't work on everyone. So Liam deciding to stop taking it, when Risperdal is known for having, as side effects, drowsiness, headache, insomnia, anxiety, increased appetite, gastrointestinal disturbances, tremors, impaired temperature regulation, difficulties concentrating and more? Not as absurd as Stiles tries to make us think it is.

Throughout the show, we see Liam being prone to those outbursts, and out of dozens and dozens of episodes, what progression do we see? What do we learn about him and his condition?

...

Well.

We certainly know that 'anger makes him stronger'. That he asks Scott to punch him, in order for him to get angry, and stronger. That his anger is used by pretty much everyone. That his mental health problems are dismissed with a few encouraging words.

By season 6, he still has violent outbursts and no one -except for Theo, hurray- seems to care to help with it, he is not shown following any kind of treatment (except for a mantra and getting an anchor, which do not always work), the only thing we know is "I'm still working on my anger". Oh, but wait, there is an improvement! Instead of hurting others, Liam hurts himself!

Which... by the show's logic... is... good?

Liam voluntarily punches walls, breaks his hands, hurts himself, in order to not hurt others, and no one does anything about it. Instead, he's known for being the strongest beta, for how his anger leads him to become stronger... and the fact that IED can cause significant distress, the idea that there could be treatment for it, ways to help -like, therapy- is barely touched upon.

Oh, and the fact that people with IED or that take Risperdal are advised not to take alcohol? Never mentionned. Who cares about the actual disorder, when you can label it 'anger issues' and get on with the plot?

But really. Do the showrunners find this funny? Did they think 'let's say he has anger issues and use that whenever we need someone super strong'? As someone struggling with mental health issues, I kind of fail to find this humorous. Liam is mocked, chained, hurts himself physically, is offered no -as far as we can see- actual therapy or medications that work for him.

I am obviously not implying that IED is all his character should focus on. Liam is a complex characters, with flaws, values, who we see forming relationships and having storylines and being, seriously, an amazing character. What I'm trying to say is that once more, mental health is, in my opinion, shown in a very one dimensional way, focusing more on showing an individual's outbursts and being in pain, than on the individual being... an individual. I think the showrunners did not do a sufficient job at talking and researching about IED, that they narrowed it down to 'anger issues', and only used it when useful.

And sorry if this is more of a rant than anything, but this kind of behaviour fucking pisses me off.

(Sources: verywellhealth.com, medicalnewstoday.com, verywellmind.com, mayoclinic.org, healthline.com, psychcentral.com, clevelandclinic.org, nami.org, drugs.com)

Every day I wake up and remember Liam Dunbar was underdevelopped by the showrunners

Unpopular Opinion

Self-diagnosing is invalid.

It can spend false information and harm the people who actually have said disorder.

(Just look at the "endogenic systems".)

yeah, go right ahead and villainize me. I don't care (I will internalize this interaction for years to come)

I feel like it isn't talked about enough how traumatizing growing up with intermittent explosive disorder is. I've had this self image of monstrousness metaphorically beaten into me from a very young age, constantly told that it's all my fault if things escalate from somebody triggering my anger, how I just don't have enough control over my emotions and that's the only issue. Never mind the shit people expect me to just take and accept, it's MY fault if I explode because apparently my needs and feelings don't matter at all.

And then I'M the one who has to apologize for hurting the other party's feelings, as if that crime wasn't committed by them onto me as well. I won't apologize to someone who isn't remorseful for hurting me, I don't care how much I hurt them in return. You backed the coyote into a corner and get surprised when it attacks. My ability to not accept bullshit anymore has been labeled as 'going backwards in recovery' because that 'recovery' was just being told to bottle up everything and walk on eggshells, and I'll be damned if I'm going to do that anymore.