The DOI matches its Crossref record; 265 of the 268 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Neurobiology of Aggression and Violence
Open accessAbstract
Acts of violence account for an estimated 1.43 million deaths worldwide annually. While violence can occur in many contexts, individual acts of aggression account for the majority of instances. In some individuals, repetitive acts of aggression are grounded in an underlying neurobiological susceptibility that is just beginning to be understood. The failure of "top-down" control systems in the prefrontal cortex to modulate aggressive acts that are triggered by anger provoking stimuli appears to play an important role. An imbalance between prefrontal regulatory influences and hyper-responsivity of the amygdala and other limbic regions involved in affective evaluation are implicated. Insufficient serotonergic facilitation of "top-down" control, excessive catecholaminergic stimulation, and subcortical imbalances of glutamatergic/gabaminergic systems as well as pathology in neuropeptide systems involved in the regulation of affiliative behavior may contribute to abnormalities in this circuitry. Thus, pharmacological interventions such as mood stabilizers, which dampen limbic irritability, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which may enhance "top-down" control, as well as psychosocial interventions to develop alternative coping skills and reinforce reflective delays may be therapeutic.
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“Gene expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been shown to play a crucial role in the regulation of aggressive behavior [21, 22].”
From Gene expression profiles underlying aggressive behavior in the prefrontal cortex of cattle (2021) · cites this paper as [22]
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“It has been shown that aberrant presenilin expression also plays an important role in Alzheimer’s disease, with behaviors such as agitation and aggression frequently occurring in patients [22, 50].”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Siever, L. J.
- Affiliations
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
- Corresponding author
- Siever, Larry J.
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 165
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 429-442
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- PMC
- PMC4176893
- OpenAlex
- W2143884902
- Cited by
- 984
- References
- 268
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 66 · 2016: 70 · 2015: 69 · 2014: 53 · 2013: 56 · 2012: 56
- FWCI
- 9.85
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- National Institutes of Health (MO1-RR-00071)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH063875, MO1-RR-00071, MH 56140, MH-63875, R01MH056140)
- National Center for Research Resources (MO1RR00071, M01RR000071, M01-RR-00071)
- NIH Clinical Center
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- aggression, violence, neurobiology of aggression, prefrontal cortex, top-down control, amygdala, limbic system, serotonergic system, catecholaminergic system, neuropeptides, affiliative behavior, mood stabilizers, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, psychosocial interventions, coping strategies
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Amygdala, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Disease Susceptibility, Kindling, Neurologic, Limbic System, Models, Neurological, Models, Psychological, Terminology as Topic, Violence, Prefrontal Cortex, Neurotransmitter Agents
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