long read, but only for those seriously interested
Controlling “roid rage” should be 90% a job you undertake personally, and unless you can manage this much, as previous posters have stated, you have no business driving yourself into drugs which will exacerbate your emotional fragility. Although there are drugs which can help ameliorate the problem, rage is a multi-faceted problem and self-therapy is ineffective at best, dangerous at worst. Some common reasons for rage can be:
1.
chemical anxiety – receptors in the brain can be excitable by nature and certain stimuli will only serve to drive the anxiety to a frenzy, many people who become violent in situations where they lose control (such as when someone moves your stuff at your desk) can be traced to this influence. Chemical anxieties are hardest to resolve if only because the brain has been literally “hard-wired” to be susceptible to this stimuli.
2.
Psychological anxiety – sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will commonly see themselves influenced with this. Typically, the issue is a perceived threat similar to a trauma which now rules the actions of the individual. Violent reactions in response to this threat are common. Usually, the majority of the influence is mental, as opposed to chemical, but eventually, becomes chemical too.
3.
Phobic anxiety – a mixture of chemical and mental anxieties where the person has a generalized fear or paranoia of some threat. Although most phobias can be focused on objects or situations (heights, snakes, public speaking), some phobias can be generalized (such as some forms of social phobia, or unknown anxieties). The anxiety produced is chemical and psychological and deep set, such that both factors must be addressed in order to achieve a solution. As in all other anxieties, the feeling of imminent danger is what provokes the response.
4.
Schizophrenia and psychosis (bi/polar) – very uncommon, and mostly chemically based. Typically the sufferer will react in violence not because of violent tendencies, but because of the lack of social controls the sufferer will have (hence, it’s just as easy for him to cry as it is to kill sometimes), this disorder can exist in various amounts, and although most would assume it only exists in those who “hear voices” or “see things”, many sufferers don’t hear voices at all, but rather , feel sociopathic, or lacking social restraint.
5.
Ego/personality (paranoid, antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic) disorder – most common, and easiest to treat of the problems (but by no means easy to treat). Usually is psychological (as opposed to chemical) imbalances whereby the person feels either extreme egoism or extreme devaluation both of which lead to problems in dealing with stressful situations. The greatest sign is the inability to deal with stressors which the general population can deal with (such as someone cutting you off on the freeway, a person who calls you a name, someone who cuts in a line in front of you) and the inability to redirect such stresses effectively. Without redirecting such stresses, violence is a natural progression.
What chemical versus psychological means is that when a problem is chemical, it typically indicates a severe imbalance that is practically “hard-wired” into the person. When a problem is psychological, it is more of a thought process which leads to the imbalance. One important thought though is all problems like this are actually a mix of both chemical and psychological imbalances, and as such, treating them psychologically (which means resisting the temptation or finding ways to deal with it) is almost always the best way to cure all but the most persistent chemical imbalances. The problem with drugs being used is that although they can control the mood problems, they do not address the root cause in a way that solves the problem but rather seek to fill the gap, but unfortunately, as long as the individual doesn’t seek to psychologically solve his problem, he will never really be free of it.
With that said, some common drugs used to treat the harshest chemical imbalances are (and again, I stress, only a psychiatric doctor can even remotely determine a person’s cause and need for them) :
Benzodiazepines: (Ativan, Dalmane, Librium, Restoril, Tranxene, Centrax, Klonopin, Paxipam, Serax, Valium, Xanax)
very useful for treating the strongest anxieties, but can become habit-forming and cause drowsiness. can also cause some androgen insensitivity.
Beta Blockers: (Inderal, Tenormin)
very useful in reducing exitation (adrenaline based anxiety), but not good for asthmatics and can make you fat, and if you have heart problems, let the doc know.
Azaspirones: (BuSpar)
less powerful than Benzodiazepines, but narcotic effects (especially drowsiness) are severely reduced.
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI): (Eldepryl, Marplan, Nardil,
Parnate)
sometimes useful for certain chemical anxieties, takes a long time to see the benefits, must be closely supervised by a doctor.
Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SRI): (Celexa, Desyrel, Effexor,
Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, Serzone, Zoloft)
very popular and effective for treating most chemical anxieties, but can cause sexual dysfunction and loss of appetite
Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCA): (Adapin, Anafranil, Elavil, Janimine, Ludiomil, Pamelor, Pertofrane, Sinequan, Surmontil, Tofranil, Vivactil)
by regulating serotonin and noradrenaline, are also very effective in reducing most chemical imbalances, but can cause weight gain, low blood pressure, and sexual dysfunction
here is an article on the chemical versus psychological argument
http://www.bitemarks.com/publications\faq03.html
Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
unreal the misinformation on EF compared to other boards. and i have over 5000 posts with all my usernames over the years, so i am no newbie.
