ABSTRACT
Aggressive behavior is one of the most common reasons for clinical referral in child psychiatry. Aggression does not constitute, however, a specific diagnostic category, and different types of aggression exist. Most notably, a distinction is made between a proactive, goal-oriented, planned, covert, predatory type characterized by low activation of the autonomic nervous system, and a reactive, impulsive, uncontrolled, overt, affective type characterized by high autonomic activation (Vitiello and Stoff, 1997). It is generally agreed that it is only the latter, “impulsive aggression,” that constitutes a potential target for pharmacologic treatment (Jensen et al, 2005).
