Key Takeaways
- Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a group of mental health conditions that make it difficult to resist the impulse to engage in behavior like stealing, fighting, or setting fires.
- Many research-backed treatments can be helpful for people with impulse control disorders.
- These treatment approaches can teach you to communicate effectively, build stronger relationships, and use wise decision-making skills.
Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are a group of mental health conditions characterized by a difficulty with controlling your impulses. They can affect both children and adults. A child with an impulse control disorder might have angry or aggressive outbursts. An adult may have a hard time controlling their impulse to shop, steal, or fight others.
We don’t know exactly what causes impulse control disorders, but research has found that people with these conditions tend to have differences in their brains — especially in the areas connected with risk taking and decision making.
Fortunately, there are treatment approaches and programs that can help people with impulse control disorders, including adults as well as children and their parents. People with these conditions can learn to manage their impulses and align their life to their values.
Parent management training
Many impulse control disorders affect children. Some — like oppositional defiant disorder — primarily affect children. For children with these impulse control disorders, one of the most effective treatment types is parent management training (PMT).
In PMT programs, the parent works with a therapist (or other type of medical professional) to learn the most effective strategies to manage their child’s behavior. If you’re the parent of a child with an impulse control disorder, you’re probably the one who spends the most time with them and is in the best position to observe and manage most of their behaviors. It’s essential for you to learn about impulse control disorders, how your child is affected, and the best strategies to teach your child how to manage them.
Some techniques that parents might learn in a PMT program include how to:
- Effectively reward positive behavior
- Give clear commands and instructions
- Be consistent with expectations and boundaries
- Ignore or manage negative or attention-seeking behaviors
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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT is a wide category of therapy techniques focused on helping you change your thoughts or behaviors. It’s one of the most commonly used therapy methods for a wide variety of mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety.
Research shows that CBT techniques are some of the most effective interventions for impulse control disorders as well. For example, both individual and group-based CBT can help people with intermittent explosive disorder experience less anger, hostile thinking, and depression. Several different CBT-based approaches can be used to help people with these conditions.
Some examples of specific approaches in CBT include:
- Cognitive restructuring: This technique helps you identify and challenge unhelpful or distorted thought patterns that could be worsening impulsive behaviors. For example, you might learn to change thinking patterns that make you angry. By replacing negative or unrealistic thoughts with more balanced and constructive ones, you can learn to respond to situations in healthier ways.
- Relapse prevention: This strategy focuses on identifying specific triggers that might lead to impulsive behaviors and developing strategies to avoid or manage them. For example, if you know that certain situations or people make you feel more impulsive, you might make a plan for how to cope with them. It also teaches you how to recognize early warning signs of relapse.
- Imaginal desensitization: Often used for conditions like kleptomania, this technique involves imagining situations where you might feel the urge to act impulsively. By visualizing these scenarios in a controlled and safe environment, you can practice managing your impulses and reduce the intensity of the urge over time.
- Relaxation training: Stress and tension can worsen impulsive behaviors like angry outbursts. Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or mindfulness exercises can help calm your mind and body and make it easier to control your impulses.
Behavior therapy
Behavior therapy can also help — especially for children with impulse control disorders. Behavior therapy is very similar to CBT (and many behavior therapy techniques are mistakenly categorized as CBT techniques), but it focuses more on helping you learn new behaviors than changing your thinking patterns.
A specific type of behavior therapy called social competence training has been found by randomized controlled trials to be effective for children with impulse control disorders like conduct disorder.
In social competence training, children learn important skills that can help them be more successful in their relationships, especially with adults. For example, they might learn how to wait their turn during games or how to use deep-breathing techniques to manage anger.
Group therapy
Several group therapy methods have also been shown to be helpful for people with certain impulse control disorders.
In group therapy, you meet with other people navigating the same symptoms you do. A licensed therapist typically acts as a facilitator who guides you in speaking about your experiences in a supportive way. Many group therapy programs also focus on helping you learn skills (like communication skills or anger-management skills) in a group setting.
According to research, many types of group therapy programs can be helpful.
For example, research found a group therapy program for teen girls with conduct disorder to reduce symptoms. This program uses a combination of CBT and dialectical behavior therapy (a therapy technique focusing on emotion regulation) to help children learn how to use better reasoning and decision-making skills. Another CBT-based group therapy program was found to help people with intermittent explosive disorder.
Collaborative problem solving
Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an evidence-based approach that can help children and adolescents with impulse control disorders. Like PMT, it involves and relies on parents to teach children important skills.
CPS is a two-part approach that helps children with impulse control disorders learn to manage their behavior while also strengthening their relationships with the adults in their lives. This method is all about teamwork. Instead of focusing on punishment, CPS teaches children and their parents how to solve problems together in a constructive way.
For example, parents learn how to approach conflicts calmly and involve their child in finding solutions to specific challenges, like managing outbursts or following instructions. At the same time, children practice important skills like communication, flexibility, and emotional regulation. CPS recognizes that kids with impulse-control issues often lack the skills they need to meet expectations, and it helps families work together to build these skills.
Medication
No medications are FDA approved to treat impulse control disorders, and we need more high-quality research to be able to say for sure if medications can help. However, some research suggests that certain medications could be helpful in managing the symptoms of some conditions, including intermittent explosive disorder (IED) and kleptomania.
Treatment could also be helpful if you live with co-existing mental health conditions, like ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) or anxiety. Make sure to work with your provider to determine a treatment plan that makes the most sense for you.
Parents can help by learning how to manage their child’s behavior, like using clear rules and rewarding good actions. Since therapy is only a small part of the week, practicing these techniques at home is key to helping the child improve their impulse control.
Find care with Rula
Whether it’s you or your child living with an impulse control disorder, it can be challenging to navigate. But there are a variety of treatment methods that can help you build your decision-making and impulse-control skills. With professional support, you can build a fulfilling life that’s aligned with your values.
Rula has connected therapists and clients for millions of therapy sessions, and we accept most insurance providers. One of our therapists can start helping you with impulse control disorder as soon as tomorrow.
About the author
Saya Des Marais
Saya graduated with her Master in Social Work (MSW) with a concentration in mental health from the University of Southern California in 2010. She formerly worked as a therapist and motivational interviewing trainer in community clinics, public schools, mental health startups, and more.
Her writing has been featured in FORTUNE, GoodRX, PsychCentral, and dozens of mental health apps and therapy websites. Through both her clinical work and her personal OCD diagnosis, she’s learned the importance of making empathetic and accurate mental health content available online.
She lives in Portland, Oregon but you can find her almost just as often in Mexico or in her birthplace, Tokyo.
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