tantrum

{{Short description|Type of anger outburst engaged in typically by young children}}

File:Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Christina Rossetti in a Tantrum.jpg in a Tantrum" by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]

A tantrum, angry outburst, temper tantrum, lash out, meltdown, fit, or hissy fit is an emotional outburst,{{Cite journal|last=Album|first=Cabinet|date=1830|title=The Cabinet Album A Collection of Original and Selected Literature|journal=The|publisher=Hurst, Chance and Company|pages=92}}{{Cite journal|last=Foote|first=Samuel|date=1765|title=The Dramatic Works Volume 1|journal=The Dramatic Works|publisher=P. Vaillant|volume=1|pages=40–41}}{{Cite book |last=Payn |first=James |title=Married Beneath Him. A novel. By the author of "Lost Sir Massingberd" James Payn |publisher=The British Library |year=1869 |pages=369}} usually associated with those in emotional distress. It is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence,{{Cite journal|last=O'Hara|first=Kane|date=1770|title=Midas An English Burletta. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal, in Covent-Garden|journal=Midas an English Burletta. As It is Performed at the Theatre-Royal, in Covent-Garden|pages=20}} defiance,{{Cite journal|last=GOMBERT|first=A. J.|date=1825|title=The French Drama ... with Notes Critical and Explanatory, by A. G. Volume 2 of The French Drama ... with Notes Critical and Explanatory, by A. G|journal=The French Drama...|publisher=The British Library|volume=2|pages=47}} angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification, and in some cases, hitting and other physically violent behavior. Physical control may be lost; the person may be unable to remain still; and even if the "goal" of the person is met, they may not be calmed. Throwing a temper tantrum may lead to a child getting detention or being suspended from school for older school age children, and could result in a timeout or grounding, complete with room or corner time, at home.{{cite web|url=http://www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/penelopeleach/whatisatantrum/ |author= Penelope Leach|title=What is a tantrum? |website= BabyCentre|access-date=2011-03-20}}{{cite web|url=http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/tantrums.html|title=Temper Tantrums|website= KidsHealth |access-date=2011-03-20}}{{cite web|url=http://www.babycenter.com/0_tantrums_11569.bc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012024614/http://www.babycenter.com/0_tantrums_11569.bc |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 12, 2007 |title=Tantrums |website=BabyCenter |author=Karisa Ding|date=July 26, 2017 |access-date=2011-03-20}}{{cite web|author=Jan Hunt|url=http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/tantrum.html |title=When a Child Has a Tantrum |work=The Natural Child Project |access-date=2011-03-20}}{{Cite journal|last=Mullen|first=J.K.|date=1983|title=Understanding and managing the temper tantrum|journal=Child Care Quarterly|volume=12|issue=1|pages=59–70|doi=10.1007/BF01258080|s2cid=144110786}}{{Cite journal|first=E.R.|last=Geelerd|date=1945|title=Observations on temper tantrums in children|journal=American Journal of Orthopsychiatry|volume=15|issue=2|pages=238–246|doi=10.1111/j.1939-0025.1945.tb04937.x}} A tantrum may be expressed in a tirade: a protracted, angry speech.{{Cite journal|last1=Daniels|last2=Mandleco|last3=Luthy|first1=Elizabeth|first2=Barbara|first3=Karlen E.|date=2012|title=Assessment, management, and prevention of childhood temper tantrums|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners|volume=24|issue=10|pages=569–573|doi=10.1111/j.1745-7599.2012.00755.x|pmid=23006014|doi-access=free}}

In early childhood

Tantrums are one of the most common forms of problematic behavior in young children but tend to decrease in frequency and intensity as the child gets older.{{Cite journal|last=Banham Bridges|first=Katharine M.|date=1932|title=Emotional Development in Early Infancy|journal=Child Development|volume=3|issue=4|pages=324–341|jstor=1125359|doi=10.2307/1125359}} For a toddler, tantrums can be considered as normal, and even as gauges of developing strength of character.{{cite book|author=Robin Skynner|author2=John Cleese|title=Families and how to survive them|date=1993|page=177}}{{Cite journal|first=S.|last=Isaacs|date=1940|title=Temper tantrums in early childhood in their relation to internal objects.|journal=The International Journal of Psychoanalysis|volume=21|pages=280–293}}{{Cite journal|first=A.|last=Solter|date=1992|title=Understanding Tears and Tantrums|journal=Young Children|volume=47|issue=4|pages=64–68|jstor=42725308}}

File:گریه کردن دختر بچه Cry baby girl 08.jpg

While tantrums are sometimes seen as a predictor of future anti-social behavior,{{Cite journal|author1=Potegal, Michael|author2=Davidson, Richard J.|title=Temper Tantrums in Young Children|journal= Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics|volume=24|issue=3|pages=140–147|date=June 2003|doi=10.1097/00004703-200306000-00002|pmid= 12806225|s2cid=23682833}} in another sense they are simply an age-appropriate sign of excessive frustration,{{Cite journal|first1=J.A.|first2=P.G.|first3=M.|last1=Green|last2=Whitney|last3=Potegal|date=2011|title=Screaming, yelling, whining, and crying: Categorical and intensity differences in vocal expressions of anger and sadness in children's tantrums.|journal=Emotion|volume=11|issue=5|pages=1124–1133|doi=10.1037/a0024173|pmid=21707157|pmc=3192404}} and will diminish over time given a calm and consistent handling.{{cite book|author= Roy Benaroch|title=Solving Health and Behavioural Problems from Birth Through Preschool|date=2008|page=157}}{{Cite journal|first=C.B.|last=Kopp|date=1989|title=Regulation of distress and negative emotions: A developmental view.|journal= Developmental Psychology|volume=25|issue=3|pages=343–354|doi=10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.343}}{{Cite journal|last=Levine|first=Linda|date=1995|title=Young Children's Understanding of the Causes of Anger and Sadness|journal=Child Development|volume=66|issue=3|pages=967–709|jstor=1131944|doi=10.2307/1131944 |pmid=7789196 }} Parental containment where a child cannot contain themself—rather than what the child is ostensibly demanding—may be what is really required.{{cite book|author=Patrick Casement|title=Further Learning from the Patient|date=1990|pages=113–4}}

Selma Fraiberg warned against "too much pressure or forceful methods of control from the outside" in child-rearing: "if we turn every instance of pants changing, treasure hunting, napping, puddle wading and garbage distribution into a governmental crisis we can easily bring on fierce defiance, tantrums, and all the fireworks of revolt in the nursery".{{cite book|author=Selma H. Fraiberg|title=The Magic Years|date=1987|page=65}}

Intellectual and developmental disorders

Some people who have developmental disorders such as Autism, Asperger syndrome, ADHD, and intellectual disability{{Cite journal|first1=J.|first2=L.|last1=Luiselli|last2=Murbach|date=2002|title=Providing Instruction from Novel Staff as an Antecedent Intervention for Child Tantrum Behavior in a Public School Classroom|journal=Education and Treatment of Children|volume=25|issue=3|pages=356–365|jstor=42899711}} or even a developmental disability, could be more vulnerable to tantrums than others, although anyone experiencing brain damage (temporary or permanent) can suffer from tantrums.{{Cite journal|first1=G. E.|first2=P. M.|first3=P. S.|first4=L.|first5=G.|last1=Lancioni|last2=Smeets|last3=Ceccarani|last4=Capodaglio|last5=Campanari|date=1984|title=Effects of gross motor activities on the severe self-injurious tantrums of multihandicapped individuals.|journal=Applied Research in Mental Retardation|volume=5|issue=4|pages=471–482|doi=10.1016/S0270-3092(84)80039-9|pmid=6240965}} Anyone may be prone to tantrums once in a while, regardless of gender or age.{{cite web|author=Sandra Ketcham|url=http://autism.lovetoknow.com/Temper_Tantrums_and_Autism|title=Temper Tantrums and Autism|work=LoveToKnow|access-date=25 March 2018}}{{Cite journal|last1=Osterman|last2=Bjorkqvist|first1=Karin|first2=Kaj|date=April 1, 2010|title=A Cross-Sectional Study of Onset, Cessation, Frequency, and Duration of Children's Temper Tantrums in a Nonclinical Sample|journal=Psychological Reports|volume=106|issue=2|pages=448–454|doi=10.2466/pr0.106.2.448-454|pmid=20524545|s2cid=43291154}} However, a meltdown due to sensory overload (which even non-autistic children can experience) is not the same as a temper tantrum.{{cite web|last1=Bennie|first1=Maureen|title=Tantrum vs Autistic Meltdown: What Is The Difference?|url=https://autismawarenesscentre.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-tantrum-and-an-autistic-meltdown/|website=Autism Awareness|publisher=Autism Awareness Centre Inc.|access-date=9 June 2017|date=2 February 2016}}

Aberrations

File:Tantrums vs. meltdowns.webm video explaining the difference between tantrums and meltdowns]]

Freud considered that the Wolf Man's development of temper tantrums was connected with his seduction by his sister: he became "discontented, irritable and violent, took offence on every possible occasion, and then flew into a rage and screamed like a savage".{{cite book|author=Sigmund Freud|title=Case Histories II (PFL 9) |page=242}} Freud linked the tantrums to an unconscious need for punishment driven by feelings of guilt{{cite book|author=Sigmund Freud|title=Case Histories II (PFL 9) |page=257}}—something which he thought could be generalised to many other cases of childhood tantrums.{{cite book|author=Sigmund Freud|title=Case Histories II (PFL 9)|pages=242 & 257–8}}{{Cite journal |last=M., R.J |first=Potegal, Davidson |date=1997 |title=Young children's post tantrum affiliation with their parents |journal= Aggressive Behavior|volume=23 |issue=5 |pages=329–341 | doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-2337(1997)23:5<329::AID-AB3>3.0.CO;2-D |doi-access=free }}

Heinz Kohut contended that tantrums were rages of anger,{{cite book|author=H. Goldenberg|author2=I. Goldenberg|title=Family Therapy|date=2007|page=172}} caused by the thwarting of the infant's grandiose-exhibitionist core. The blow to the inflated self-image, when a child's wishes are (however justifiably) refused, creates fury because it strikes at the feeling of omnipotence.Edmund Bergler in J. Halliday/P. Fuller eds., The Psychology of Gambling (London 1974) p. 182

Jealousy over the birth of a sibling, and resulting aggression,{{Cite journal |last=J., H.A. |first=Kagan, Moss |date=1962 |title=The stability of behavior: II. Aggression. In J. Kagan & H. A. Moss, Birth to maturity: A study in psychological development |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/13129-004 |journal=Birth to Maturity: A Study in Psychological Development |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |pages=85–119|doi=10.1037/13129-004 |url-access=subscription }} may also provoke negativistic tantrums, as the effort at controlling the feelings overloads the child's system of self-regulation.{{cite book|author=Selma H. Fraiberg|title=The Magic Years|date=1987|page=152}}{{Cite journal|first=Tracy A.|last=Dennis|date=2006|title=Emotional self-regulation in preschoolers: The interplay approach reactivity, and control capacities|journal=Developmental Psychology|volume=42|issue=1|pages=84–97|doi=10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.84|pmid=16420120|s2cid=14692506}}

In later life

Writer William Makepeace Thackeray claimed that in later life "you may tell a tantrum as far as you can see one, by the distressed and dissatisfied expression of its countenance—'Tantrumical', if we may term it so".{{cite book|author=William Makepeace Thackeray|title=The Irish Sketch Book|url=https://archive.org/details/irishsketchbook01thacgoog|date=1848|page=[https://archive.org/details/irishsketchbook01thacgoog/page/n158 138]|publisher=J. Winchester }}

Heinz Kohut contended that "the baby’s core is likely to contain a self-centered, grandiose-exhibitionist part", and that "tantrums at being frustrated thus represent narcissistic rages" at the blow to the inflated self-image. With "a child confronted with some refusal ... regardless of its justifications, the refusal automatically provokes fury, since it offends his sense of omnipotence".

The willingness of the celebrity to throw tantrums whenever thwarted to the least degreeCooper Lawrence, The Cult of Celebrity (2009) p. 72 is a kind of acquired situational narcissismSimon Crompton, All About Me (London 2007) p. 176 or tantrumical behavior.

If older people show tantrums, they might often be signs of immaturity or a mental or developmental disability; and often autistic or ADHD meltdowns are incorrectly labelled tantrums. It can also occur in neurotypical people under extreme stress.{{cite web|url=http://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/adult-temper-tantrums-1.1126134|title=North Jersey|website=North Jersey|access-date=25 March 2018}}