Disruptive Mood Dysregulation in children

The main supervisor was Professor Annika Melinder, Department of psychology, UiO. Collaborators: Psychologist Marit Coldevin, Nic Waals Institute; Jan Stubberud, Associate professor (UiO), Andrea Lebena and Åshild Faresjö from the Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University; Elvar Theodorsson, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Clinical Chemistry, Linköping University

The PhD project (2019-2023) studied factors contributing to Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD), a diagnosis assigned to children experiencing severe irritability and temper outbursts. Despite its inclusion in the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) in 2013, effective treatments for DMDD remain limited. The study specifically investigated executive functions, social cognition, and biological stress responses as potential contributors to DMDD in 6- to 12-year-olds, with the goal of informing the development of treatments.

The aim of the PhD project was to enhance our understanding of the factors leading some children to struggle with regulating their emotions, characterized by persistent irritability and frequent anger outbursts. The project focused on examining biological components (such as cortisol) and neuropsychological aspects (e.g., executive function and social cognition) in children with and without DMDD within a clinical sample.

More about the project: Link: https://www.sv.uio.no/psi/personer/ekstern-phd/astriib/index.html

Publications

Brænden, Astrid; Coldevin, Marit Melnæs; Zeiner, Pål; Stubberud, Jan Egil & Melinder, Annika Maria Désirée (2023). Neuropsychological mechanisms of social difficulties in disruptive mood dysregulation disorder versus oppositional defiant disorder. Child Neuropsychology: A Journal of Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence. ISSN 0929-7049. doi: 10.1080/09297049.2023.2205632. 

Brænden, Astrid; Coldevin, Marit Melnæs; Zeiner, Pål; Stubberud, Jan Egil & Melinder, Annika Maria Désirée (2023). Executive function in children with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder compared to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, and in children with different irritability levels. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. ISSN 1018-8827. doi: 10.1007/s00787-023-02143-6. 

Brænden, Astrid; Zeiner, Pål; Coldevin, Marit; Stubberud, Jan Egil & Melinder, Annika Maria Désirée (2022). Underlying mechanisms of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder in children: A systematic review by means of research domain criteria. JCPP Advances. ISSN 2692-9384. 2, s. 1–24. doi: 10.1002/jcv2.12060.