Yes, Huntington's disease (HD) very commonly causes anger, irritability, and frustration as part of its significant neuropsychiatric symptoms, often stemming from brain changes that affect emotional regulation, leading to outbursts and difficulty managing temper, even over small things. These mood changes, including aggression and apathy, are a core part of HD, impacting thinking, behavior, and relationships, requiring management strategies like consistent routines and sometimes medication.
Huntington's disease impairs the functioning of the brain, which can result in apathy, trouble organizing, impulsivity, irritability and anger, unawareness, disinhibition, preservation, and other psychiatric symptoms. These emotional and behavioral symptoms can further complicate the caregiver's role.
For the purpose of this fact sheet, the beginning of end-of-life in HD is determined as the stage when the person affected has little control over movement, is bedbound, unable to communicate, unable to eat and drink on his/her own and experiences severe chorea or extreme rigidity.
Behavioural changes are often the first symptoms of Huntington's disease. These changes often include: a lack of emotions and not recognising the needs of others. periods of aggression, excitement, depression, antisocial behaviour and anger.
HD patients usually develop changes in personality and emotional functioning during the progress of disease, e.g., increase of hostility, impulsivity, depression and anxiety (Thompson et al., 2002; van Duijn et al., 2007).
Mental health conditions
The most common mental health condition associated with Huntington's disease is depression. This isn't simply a reaction to receiving a diagnosis of Huntington's disease. Instead, depression appears to occur because of damage to the brain and changes in brain function.
But many people with HD stay aware of their environment and can express their emotions. Changes in behavior may include mood swings; feeling irritable (cranky); not being active; or feeling apathetic (uninterested), depressed, or angry. These symptoms may decrease as the disease progresses.
Symptoms of Huntington's disease
Early symptoms can include: difficulty concentrating and planning tasks. memory problems. low mood, depression and anxiety.
How can we help the person affected?
Some people suffer from conditions such as major depression, bipolar disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many, if not most, people with Huntington's also experience less well defined, non-specific changes in personality and mood, such as irritability, apathy, or disinhibition.
Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative autosomal dominant disease characterized by choreatic and hypokinetic movements, disturbed behaviour, and cognitive decline. Pneumonia is the most common cause of death, followed by cardiovasculair diseases.
HD affects the whole brain, but certain areas are more vulnerable than others. Pictured above in blue is the striatum – an area deep in the brain that plays a key role in movement, mood, and behavior control. The striatum is the part of the brain that is most affected by HD.
The 4-wheeled rollator has been shown to be the safest walking device for people with HD (1). The 4-wheeled walker produced safer and less variable gait when compared to other devices (1).
Intermittent explosive disorder involves repeated, sudden bouts of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior or angry verbal outbursts. The reactions are too extreme for the situation. Road rage, domestic abuse, throwing or breaking objects, or other temper tantrums may be symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder.
And for social and cultural as well as medical and scientific reasons, it played a far more important role in defining the discrete clinical entity that soon came to be known as 'Huntington's chorea' and by the late 1960s, as 'Huntington's disease'.
Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) involves frequent episodes of impulsive anger that's out of proportion to the event that triggered it. These outbursts can result in physical harm to the person with IED, other people or animals. It's essential to seek medical treatment for IED as soon as possible.
Psychiatric disturbances that occur in individuals with HD include apathy, depression, irritability, aggression, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and psychosis [7, 8].
Persons with HD should engage in aerobic activities ideally for at least 150 minutes a week. Walking is a good aerobic exercise and still possible for the person in the middle stage of HD to perform. If available, stationary bikes are an excellent means of providing aerobic activity.
Avoid hard foods such as nuts and lollies. Avoid foods that separate into 'strings' or sections while being chewed, such as bacon or tomatoes. Try to choose foods high in nutritional and calorific value.
The most common signs of Huntington's disease include:
Cognitive changes, including difficulty with focus, memory and decision-making. Slower processing of information. Trouble organizing or completing tasks. Mood swings or irritability.
Stage V: (11 - 26 years from illness onset)
Requires major assistance in financial affairs, domestic responsibilities, and all activities of daily living. Full-time skilled nursing care is required.
Huntington's disease brain changes lead to alterations in mood, especially depression, anxiety, and uncharacteristic anger and irritability. Another common symptom is obsessive-compulsive behavior, leading a person to repeat the same question or activity over and over.
However, almost all people with HD will manifest disease-specific personality and behavioral changes as part of what might be termed a hypofrontal or dysexecutive syndrome, characterized by apathy, irritability, impulsivity, and obsessionality, with potentially severe consequences for the HD person's marital, social, ...
Of all the psychiatric manifestations of HD, the executive dysfunction syndrome of HD, while difficult to define and characterize, may be the most common. Individuals with this syndrome may become apathetic, irritable, disinhibited, impulsive, obsessional, and perseverative.
This is demonstrated by an individual with Huntington's disease through the expression of perseveration and impulsiveness. Perseveration is when an individual is mentally stuck or fixated on an issue. This can be exhibited through uncontrollable repetition in an action, thought or emotion.