What do you do when you get angry? Do you blast at someone, punch a pillow or isolate yourself? How do you deal with it? Is it good to get angry? Read to know more.
The Psychology Behind Anger
Anger is a strong emotion marked by hostility toward someone or something you believe has intentionally wronged you. It could be triggered by either by real or perceived threat. Sometimes we get angry for someone’s purely unintentional actions. Usually when you feel like someone is neglecting, exploiting, threatening or disrespecting you get angry.
Your fight-flight response is activated. It is a very basic survival instinct to protect you from a perceived danger or injustice. This fundamental human emotion serves as a signal, helping us express dissatisfaction and steering us to seek solutions. But, when it becomes overwhelming, it can mess with our judgment and create havoc on our mental and even physical health.
Read More: Anger: A Healthy Emotion or a Harmful Reaction?
What triggers anger?
- Early childhood: if you have been brought up in a dysfunctional family you may think aggression and violence are okay. This learned behaviour becomes your wrongful belief system making you an angry person as an adult.
- Stressful life events: when you lack work-life balance, or when you’re struggling to make ends meet all these contribute to your excessive anger levels.
- Death or loss: losing your loved one makes you angry as you haven’t made peace with it. It is an inevitable phase in the grieving process.
- Hormones: hormones have an impact on our moods. Women going through their menstrual cycle or menopause have mood swings.
- Past trauma: having gone through a lot of trauma like bullying or racism may make you more rebellious than a calm person.
- Physical pain: any pain in your body makes you irritable.
- Some mental health conditions like OCD, ADHD and bipolar disorder may also contribute to anger.
- Lack of sleep or food habits can also affect anger levels.
The Physiological Signs of Anger
Remember the last time you felt angry? What did you feel at that time? Check out the following physical signs and see if look familiar:
- Making a fist
- Raising voice
- Muscle tension
- Stomach-churning
- A sensation of heat
- Clenching your jaw
- Your legs feel weak.
- Excessive sweating
- Frowning or scowling
- Trembling and shaking
- Tightness in your chest
- Headaches or dizziness
- Rapid heartbeat and increased respiration
These are the common physical reactions felt to know that someone is angry. Persistent anger can be associated with various health complications, including hypertension, cardiovascular issues, migraines, skin conditions, and digestive troubles. Moreover, not handling anger may lead to issues like substance and alcohol misuse, criminal behaviour, emotional and physical abuse, and other forms of violence.
Read More: Understanding the Link Between ADHD and Alcohol Use
Impact of anger on the mind
- Resentment
- Humiliation
- Feeling guilty
- Anxious and restless
- Irritable and easily annoyed
- When you’re angry you may feel
- Overwhelmed and low self-control.
According to the ‘anger iceberg theory’ we see only anger that’s visible like the tip of an iceberg. But there are a plethora of emotions lurking underneath. Emotions hidden beneath the surface may include jealousy, grief, loneliness, exhaustion, insecurities, sadness, helplessness, trauma and pain.
Read More: Rage Rooms: Providing Anger Relief or Perpetuating Violence?
Types of Anger
Anger or rage has many ways of showing itself. Let’s know them one by one.
- Volatile anger: this type of anger is pretty tricky to predict and it is explosive. The person gets triggered easily and may become aggressive and destructive.
- Overwhelmed anger: when everything seems to be falling apart and nothing seems under your control it gives a feeling of hopelessness and anger.
- Frustration-based anger: any obstacles in the way to achieving your goals cause frustration leading to rage and aggression.
- Fear-fuelled anger: fear is a common trigger for anger. Even animals get angry when their safety is threatened.
- Judgemental anger: you notice or feel flaws in a person or a situation and their mistakes may trigger you.
- Pain-related anger: When pain takes over, anger can sometimes seem like the only weapon to fight back.
- Passive anger: here anger is shown in indirect ways either through sarcasm jokes or silent treatment.
- Righteous indignation: it is the anger driven by perceiving or experiencing injustice or moral failure.
- Physiological anger: hormonal imbalances can impact your anger levels and emotional reactions.
- Manipulative anger: sometimes anger is used to scare people thereby gaining control over them.
- Chronic anger: Ongoing persistent anger. The person is almost always on the edge.
- Assertive anger: this is when you amicably communicate your feelings.
Ways of expressing anger
It will be expressed in different ways by different people based on their culture, age, education and even gender. Common ways include:
- Inward aggression: this is seen as negative self-talk, isolation, denying self-care and self-harm.
- Passive-aggressive: this is an indirect expression. You sulk, or may give them the silent treatment or your jokes are filled with sarcasm.
- Outward aggression: it is when you direct your anger and aggression towards others. You may punch or yell at someone, or throw or break things.
The psychological impact of suppressing anger
Sometimes we suppress anger consciously or unconsciously and avoid expressing it. We ignore our feelings of frustration or irritation this makes our mind a cooker boiling with excess pressure. This emotional build-up takes a toll on our physical and mental health. Internalising anger causes stress, anxiety and depression. Suppressed anger manifests as other alternate emotions or may make a person go completely numb and withdrawn.
This unexpressed anger may soon become their personality which is not so positive. They become very cynical and hostile humans. They keep putting others down, give harsh criticisms always and their relationships mostly break. And that’s why constructive ways to express anger are of utmost importance to let the steam off then and there.
People usually suppress anger out of fear of hurting or losing their loved one. This emotional avoidance eventually leads to depression. Suppressing anger makes you oblivious to other’s emotional states as you’re in a tug-of-war with your own emotions. This makes your empathy drop to zero which makes family and home a place full of confusion and conflicts.
A study revealed that people with suppressed anger can’t decipher or differentiate the facial expressions of people. Some people push their anger under the rug and never voice out their grievances at the workplace. This behaviour makes them prone to lack of job satisfaction and someday they quit their job. When you are actively suppressing anger you are mentally absent and indifferent to many things happening around you.
Read More: How to Boost Employee Morale and Satisfaction: Psychologist Speaks
Can anger be good?
Anger has both negative and positive effects. The positive side of anger is:
- The catalyst to change: spotting or experiencing injustice triggers the right kind of anger that brings about changes in oneself, the people around you and may be to whole nation.
- Negotiating tool: when you realise you’re selling yourself for less, anger helps you to assertively claim your position or value that you rightfully deserve.
- Self-protection: from an evolutionary point of view, stress, anxiety and anger help in survival. Threats, danger or enemies are tackled with anger.
- Problem solving: facing problems and becoming angry thereupon leads to finding solutions to remove blockages in life.
- Emotional expression: little anger gives a cathartic relief and it is part of human nature.
Researchers and psychologists say that anger is also a very beneficial, valid emotion that is an integral part of life.
Read More: 9 Healthy Ways to Channel Anger and Find Inner Peace
Negative effects of anger
- Decision making: anger clouds your judgement and you end up making impulsive decisions that you’ll regret later on. Physiologically anger is when your sympathetic nervous system is activated and you’re ready to fight or flee. Adrenaline and cortisol are released and you’re alert. But your prefrontal cortex responsible for decision making is switched off and the amygdala responsible for emotions is hyperactive. You’re physiologically almost in an autopilot mode recklessly making poor decisions.
- Relationship problems: when you project your anger from work at home with your kids or spouse it breaks the harmony of the house. Frequent outbursts can push others away, leading to isolation and creating tension in your relationships. This can strain connections with friends and colleagues alike, impacting your professional life as well.
- Physical damage: According to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health, frequent feelings of anger may heighten a person’s risk of developing heart disease by restricting the ability of blood vessels to expand. This vascular damage will eventually lead to a heart attack.
- Affect productivity: your anger will impact your productivity because of distraction and low motivation your performance will take a nose dive. With such uncontrolled behaviour in the workplace people usually have a brush with the law sooner or later.
Read More: Managing Rage: Triggers and Anger Management Strategies
Tame your Temper
Find out your triggers—events people or situations that provoke anger. Practice relaxation and breathing techniques, yoga/meditation, Develop your communication skills and keep a journal to keep anger at bay. If the anger is uncontrollable then consider seeing a therapist to get anger management therapy. Therapists may also employ different approaches like CBT, DBT and family therapy depending on your needs.
Buddha once said, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die!”
Do you know someone who gets mad easily? Share this with your loved ones and leave your comments below.
Read More: Meditation for Anxiety: Stress Reduction and Emotional Balance
FAQs
1. What causes anger?
Common triggers include stress, unmet expectations, feeling threatened, or experiencing injustice. It can also stem from underlying issues such as anxiety or depression.
2. Is anger always bad?
Not necessarily. Anger can be a healthy emotion when expressed appropriately. It can motivate change or highlight important issues.
