ANGER MANAGEMENT [PART 1]

We all get angry occasionally. If you’re experiencing overwhelming rage, it could be damaging your mental and physical health as well as your relationships with others. Uncontrolled anger can be indicative of underlying problems, such as anger management issues or neurosis. It’s important to control your emotions and calm yourself down for your own sake as well as for the sake of those around you.

HOW CAN WE CONTROL OUR ANGER?

Anger can be controlled following the following tips:

a. Watch for physiological signs of anger. Anger is certainly a psychological emotion, but it is also physiological, involving chemical reactions in your brain. [1] When you get angry, your amygdala, the center for emotional processing, sends a distress signal to your hypothalamus, which sends epinephrine along your autonomic nervous system through the path of the sympathetic nervous system to the adrenal glands, which starts pumping epinephrine (adrenaline) throughout your body. The adrenaline gets your body ready to meet a threat, increasing your heart rate and sharpening your senses.

NB

This process serves a biological purpose (preparing you for fight or flight), but if you have an anger problem, your threshold for what triggers this physiological response may be too low (for example, if you get angry at a coworker for playing music too loudly).

b. Take inventory of your emotions. Anger often masks another emotion; many times, anger is a secondary emotion to hurt, sadness, grief, depression, or fear. Anger emerges as almost a defense mechanism because it is easier for many people to deal with than the other emotions. Think about whether you allow yourself to feel a wide range of emotions or if you may be suppressing emotions that you think you “shouldn’t” feel.

NB

If you commonly substitute anger for other emotions that you find more difficult to deal with, consider seeing a therapist to learn to handle and accept those emotions.

c. Accept that anger can be a normal, healthy emotion. Anger is not always a bad thing. Anger can serve a healthy purpose by protecting you against continued abuse or wrongdoing. If you perceive that someone is harming you, you will likely become angry, and that anger will prompt you to confront the person or end the harm in another way.

NB

Some people (often women) are taught that it is impolite to feel or express anger. But suppressing natural feelings of anger can have negative effects on your emotions and your relationships with others.

d.  Watch for signs that your anger is out of control. While anger can be healthy, it can also be unhealthy. You may need to deal with an anger problem through self-help or professional help if the following are true:

(i) Insignificant occurrences make you very angry, such as spilled milk and accidentally dropping an object.

(ii) When you’re angry, you display aggressive behaviors, including yelling, screaming, or hitting.

(iii) The problem is chronic; it happens over and over again.

(iv) You have an addiction, and when you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, your temper gets worse and your behavior more violent.

Thanks for stopping over to read my blog. Your views and comments are welcome. Join me soonest as I x-ray the concluding part of this all important topic of   ANGER.