Cultural Issues in Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) and Affective Dysregulation

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) is introduced in DSM-5 to characterize children with impairing, persistent negative mood, and emotional outbursts. This introduction has been controversial, and the ICD-11 suggests the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) with chronic irritability/anger instead of DMDD. Culture is closely related to mental health and disorders and interacts with mental disorders through the cultural concepts of distress. The latter comprises cultural idioms, explanations, and syndromes. Cultural data on the DMDD construct and emotional (affective) dysregulation among children are limited, and the available research originates mainly from Western countries. This chapter aims to synthesize research on DMDD conducted among low-middle-income countries (LMICs) and non-Western societies. According to these studies, several limitations of the existing criteria for DMDD are underlined, and suggestions for future research are provided.