ReviewJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2018
Practitioner Review: Definition, recognition, and treatment challenges of irritability in young people.
Review in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 210 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding irritability through the lens of self-regulatory control processes in children and adolescents: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Irritability as a Transdiagnostic Construct Across Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2025Pooled it
- Behavioural and cognitive-behavioural interventions for outwardly directed aggressive behaviour in people with intellectual disabilities.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Task-based fMRI Studies in Youths With Irritability.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Diagnostic instruments for the assessment of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: a systematic review of the literature.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Suicidal behaviors and irritability in children and adolescents: a systematic review of the nature and mechanisms of the association.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Evidence Base Update on the Assessment of Irritability, Anger, and Aggression in Youth.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53Pooled it
- A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Citalopram Adjunctive to Stimulant Medication in Youth With Chronic Severe Irritability.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2020Trial
- An Exposure-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Youth with Severe Irritability: Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53Trial
- Bidirectional association between irritability and executive function in youth from late childhood to early adolescence: Between- and within-person effects.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2026Article
- Midfrontal theta power relates to response speeding following frustrative nonreward.NeuroImage · 2026Article
- Using a Developmental Approach to Investigate Behavioral, Neurodevelopmental, and Depressive Irritability Types.JAACAP open · 2026Article
- Domain Generality or Domain Specificity? The Associations Between Family Adversity, Irritability, and Psychopathology in Adolescence.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- Article
- Association of Irritability with Restricted, Repetitive Behaviors and Social Communication Challenges in Autistic Youth.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- A case-control study on the relationship between sleep bruxism and mental health conditions, depression and anxiety, in children.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Psychometric properties and cross-cultural adaptation of the Japanese version of the Affective Reactivity Index: A community-based study of adolescent irritability.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- Development and Validation of a Multi-Informant Scale for Assessing Youth Tonic and Phasic Irritability.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- Developmental shifts in irritable behaviors from preschool to school age: Longitudinal network analysis of heterotypic and homotypic continuity.International journal of behavioral development · 2025Article
- Review: Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Childhood Irritability and Aggressive Behavior.JAACAP open · 2025Review
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIrritability is one of the most common reasons for referral to child and adolescent mental health services and is the main characteristic of the new diagnosis of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD). However, the recognition and management of irritability presents a major challenge in clinical practice and may be partly responsible for the dramatic increase in antipsychotic prescribing in recent years.
methodsIn this review, we provide up-to-date information on the definition and mechanisms underlying irritability, and its assessment in clinical practice. We aim to discuss the latest research on DMDD, and the presence of severe irritability in the context of other disorders, as well as to recommend a treatment algorithm.
resultsSevere irritability is associated with aberrant reward processing and bias toward threatening stimuli. Several measures are available to easily assess irritability. The recent diagnosis of DMDD captures children whose main problem is severe irritability and differ from those with bipolar disorder in longitudinal outcomes, family history, and behavioral and neural correlates. Treatment of irritability might depend on the context it appears. Indirect evidence suggests that parent management training (PMT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are the most supported psychological treatments for irritability.
conclusionsIrritability, recognized as a mood problem rather than a purely behavioral manifestation, is a common condition for young people. Practitioners should not ignore irritability as it is associated with substantial morbidity and impairment. Although there are no trials with irritability as main outcome, clinicians can apply several existing pharmacological and psychological interventions for its treatment. Also, new promising approaches relying on pathophysiological findings, such as exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and interpretation bias training (IBT), are being currently investigated.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.