Angry while driving? Blame it on your mental health

Justin Thomas explains the link between road rage and mental disorders

Reducing the prevalence of depression could lead to safer roads and fewer accidents. Jaime Puebla / The National

The faint scent of petrol and the newness of the leather interior fill Reem’s nostrils. The wheels screech with delight as the car accelerates into the darkness. Reem has resolved to just drive, letting her tears take her where they may. She discovered, a long time ago, that driving fast was one way to take her mind off her problems. Speeding means paying more attention to the road, leaving less mind (fewer mental resources) to devote to her distress.

One of the items on a psychological test for dysfunctional mood regulation strategies reads: “I drive my motor vehicle faster or more aggressively than usual.” In response to negative emotional states some of us will put our foot to the floor in a vain attempt to outdistance distress and outpace pain. How many road accidents are caused by emotional mismanagement?

Most research, however, looks at the impact of car accidents on mental health, suggesting road accidents can lead to problems such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. But what about the other way around: can mental health problems lead to car accidents?

Consider road rage, the experience of sudden violent or aggressive outbursts while driving. A tendency towards road rage is highly dangerous, as are all forms of driving while angry.

We don’t tend to see anger as a mental health problem, but it can be a key symptom of depression. We usually think of depression as sadness and tearful withdrawal, but it commonly manifests as irritability, hostility and anger.

Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States found that 44 per cent of depression patients also experienced "anger attacks". Freud himself considered depression to be “anger turned inward”. Many contemporary psychologists also talk about alcohol and narcotics abuse as a form of masked or hidden depression.

It is conceivable, if not highly likely, that reducing the prevalence of depression would lead to safer roads and fewer accidents. This would form a virtuous cycle, with less depression leading to fewer road accidents, which in turn would also reduce the rate of accidents associated with mental-health problems.

This link between the state of mind and road accidents is most dramatically illustrated in the case of vehicular suicide. As a mode of suicide, crashing one’s car is hard to distinguish from a genuine accident. For those who wish to conceal suicidal intent, vehicular suicide has been described as the method of choice.

Fatalities that involve a single vehicle with single occupancy (just the driver not wearing a seat belt) are viewed as candidates for suicide. In the absence of corroborating evidence, however, the suspicion of suicide remains forever speculative.

Studies that have looked at this issue over time have found that when the general suicide rate increases, so too does the rate of vehicular deaths, hinting at the idea that the car crash is, at least occasionally, a method of committing suicide.

Another study, published in 2006 in the journal Crisis that interviewed the survivors of accidents involving single-occupancy vehicles, found that these drivers more frequently reported low levels of "reasons for living" and "tiredness of being alive". Finally, a review of the topic, published in a 2012 issue of Forensic Science International, estimated that at least 2 per cent of all road accidents are related to suicidal behaviour.

The issue of vehicular suicide will always be an emotive and speculative topic. Are such incidents conscious acts or unconscious impulses? Or, are they all just freak accidents?

Focusing on mental well-being and the prevention of mental health problems goes way beyond balloons and smiley faces. The indirect benefits to society are widespread and sometimes hard to recognise. Might promoting happiness also reduce the UAE’s leading cause of death for young people? I think so.

Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor at Zayed University

On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas