What causes impulse control disorders?
Scientists don’t know what causes these disorders. But many things probably play a role, including physical or biological, psychological or emotional and cultural or societal factors. Scientists do suspect that certain brain structures—including the limbic system, linked to emotions and memory functions, and the frontal lobe, the part of the brain’s cortex linked to planning functions and controlling impulses—affect the disorder. Hormones associated with violence and aggression, such as testosterone, also could play a role in the disorders. For example, researchers have suggested that women (who have relatively low levels of testosterone) might be predisposed to less aggressive types of impulse control disorders such as kleptomania or trichotillomania, and men (who have higher levels of testosterone) might be predisposed to more violent and aggressive types such as pyromania and intermittent explosive disorder. Research also has shown connections between certain types of seizure disord
