November 6, 1996
Everybody feels anger from time to time. People have been documented feeling anger
since biblical times when God was considered angry. Babies even exhibit signs that are
interpreted as anger, such as crying or screaming. Anger is not in any way unique to
people. Animals also have the ability to feel and express anger.
In our personal lives we get angry over at least one thing on almost a daily basis,
whether it be on the job, with a spouse or loved one, or perhaps with a figure of
authority. Many psychologists have written about anger, discussing the relationship
between anger and fear. Each of the individuals that comprise humanity possesses at
least one phobia, in the same way that each is capable of possessing anger. The
negativity that is associated with phobias often spills over into our feelings about
anger. We begin to think negatively about anger since we associate it with fear.
Plato was the first to suggest that anger was a disbalance. According to Dr.
Willard Gaylin, a prominent psychologist, anger is still seen as a disbalance by many of
today's psychologists. Since Plato, anger has suffered a bad reputation. We only have
to imagine a domestic abuse scene to immediately condemn anger in all of its
manifestations.
There is a reason why anger is viewed in a negative light. Nobody likes it when
someone is angry with them. We tend to avoid the wrath of those around us. This is one
reason we see anger as negative. Another reason may lie closer to Plato's concept of
imbalance. The negative perception of anger is evident in the American Heritage
Dictionary's definitions of the word anger (1):
1. A feeling of extreme displeasure, hostility, indignation, or someone or something;
rage; wrath; ire.
2. (Obsolete) Trouble; pain; affliction.
To say, "I'm getting angry", is to invoke fear in another, usually, that fear originates
from a perception that the utterer of the phrase is about to take some sort of dramatic
action. Dr. Gaylin speaks for these emotions, rage is a response to a perceived assault
that effects the body in interesting ways. Skeletal muscles are tensed; the autonomic
system moves to increase the supply of adrenaline and redistribute the blood flow of the
body; certain muscles are contracted and opposing ones relaxed. (2)
Apparently, anger is viewed negatively for a reason that is closer to Plato's
concept of imbalance. It is also closer to the American Heritage's definition of being
sick. The authors of When Anger Hurts: Anger in Modern Life explain the complications
that chronic anger can create. Doctors have long suspected that anger increases the
blood rate. Many scientists now point out that norepinepherine, the drug that is
secreted during anger, increases blood pressure as well. Anger and abnormally high blood
pressure are correlated; and high blood pressure leads to many forms of heart disease.
In a recent study 1,623 patients were interviewed an average of four days after they had
suffered a heart attack following an outburst of anger. The study showed that the risk
of suffering a heart attack is doubled after an outburst of anger. (3) The psychologist
Franz Alexander's hypothesized in 1839 that hypertesnisves lack basic assertive skills.
Psychological studies have repeatedly backed Alexander's assertion theory ever since. (4)
High blood pressure is said to be caused by uncontrolled anger, which in turn is
caused by a lack of assertion. If we bottle up our anger now, then we will feel it
later. Eventually our arteries will grow weak and we will remain tense, living daily
with treacherous moods and health. The alternative is to shout out our anger at the
world and let it manifest itself any way that it pleases. Of course, taking our anger
out at the world can have even more deleterious effects. People just don't like it when
we demonstrate our anger. Many of us are taught at an early age to bury our anger
inside, where it causes stress, both emotionally and physically. For example, in grade
school, children have to stay after class or are sent to the principle when they express
feelings of anger. Poorly managed anger is the cause of many serious physical, social
and emotional problems, form heart disease to neighborhood violence. The Institute for
Mental Health Initiatives (IMHI) believes that by teaching people the skills to manage
their anger constructively, they will become empowered with the ability to understand
their own and other's feelings and resolve conflict in a non-violent manner. The IMHI
believes the best way to achieve this goal is to train teachers, counselors, social
workers, health professional, community leaders and others in constructive anger
management skills so that they can help others by conducting workshops in their own
settings. (3)
Anger is not physically healthy. Bottled up, it can lead to drug-induced escapism
or to ignorance of our surroundings. Venting anger carelessly can also be dangerous. It
is no wonder that anger has been viewed as negative. Since we live in a stressful
society, we have no choice but to find ways of venting anger positively. East Asian
religion has given the West meditation, which is known to slow the heartbeat and calm the
nerves. Other Eastern techniques of reducing stress include acupuncture, and the
Japanese bathhouse. In the United States we have psychology, also, a number of exercises
have been developed to control and eventually reduce stress and anger. One basic
technique is called deep breathing: Lie down on your back, placing one hand on your
chest and another on your abdomen. Take deep breaths, inhaling slowly through the nose.
Feel the abdomen raise and scan the body for tension. Let the tension go as you
encounter it. After five to ten minutes the body is less tense. It is suggested that
this exercise be done once or twice a day for two to three weeks to get useful results.
(4)
Redford Williams, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center and
co-author of Anger Kills, has spent more than 20 years studying the impact of the mind
and emotions on health. Dr. Williams believes that when normal people are faced with
everyday anger, annoyance, irritation, and frustration-
and their immediate impulse is to commonly blame somebody or something, sparking fury
toward the offender manifesting itself in aggressive action, then getting angry is like
taking a small dose of slow-acting poison. According to a study of more than 1,000
people at a Western Electric Factory in Chicago, over a 25 year period, those with high
hostility scores were at high risk of dying from coronary disease as well as cancer.
There is evidence that the immune system may be weaker in hostile people, according to
Dr. Williams. Long-term anger with no forgiveness is deadly. Long term anger can lead
to carrying a grudge, which in turn hurts the person harboring the grudge more than the
person or object whom the grudge is directed. Hostility can also lead to heart disease
and other life-threatening illnesses. (3)
Of course, if a particular issue is a thorn in one's side, it may be best to lash
out at the threat. Wisdom is knowing when to lash out. Meditation and its cousin, deep
breathing are two methods of contemplation, which Albert Bernstein, the author of
Dinosaur Brains, calls using the cortex. If we are aware of the oncoming anger, we can
vent it positively with these tools. If we are unconscious that we are angry, then there
is no way of controlling our externalization of the anger. Albert Bernstein also
describes how our brains are constructed quite a bit like those of dinosaurs. We
conceptualize more abstract threats such as a coworker moving in on our territory. (5)
This sort of anger seems frivolous, but exists because we view reality the way we want.
We perceive what is not truly harmful as threatening.
Unfortunately, we are too often unconscious of our own anger. Dr. Hendrie
Weisinger, in his book Anger at Work, explains that people often have powerful emotional
reactions to others, yet are at a loss to explain just why they respond as they did.
Plenty of thinking goes on low frequency... an almost subconscious level. (6) Regardless
of how we may try to be rational, we detect subtle indicators of our peers' moods. We
often react to people based on these subtle indicators that we receive of them. If we
ignore the fact that much of our emotion originates from this unconsciousness, then we
cannot control it via our more rational cortex. Relaxation techniques allow our brain to
process emotions, so that we can deal with them consciously. Dr. Weisinger also
recommends that people outthink anger by watching our for it. Otherwise, we will blow up
anger in our own mind, magnifying the significance of negative events. This can lead to
misdirected anger. For many individuals, anger is a particularly strong influence, and
it is difficult to control it even when it is conscious anger. If any form of relaxation
doesn't work, they should try removing themselves from the stressful situation before
they get an adrenaline rush or their heart beat rises.
As previously stated, anger is mostly seen as an affliction rather than a remedy.
But, is anger positive?: The answer to the question is a conditional yes. Indeed, anger
is positive when it is used to assert oneself. When one is being threatened by an
adversary, anger can actually be useful. Our bodies are designed to make us feel
bigger than life at the sign of threat or provocation. The area of the brain called the
amygdala mediates anger experiences, judging events as either aversive or rewarding. A
threat code triggers a two-stage fight/flight mobilization in the body. Things that
affect our bodily state can make us more emotionally reactive. When Anger Hurts:
Quieting the Storm Within documents a situation in which anger can be positive, the
authors describe a beneficial use of anger (4): "Iris, a middle-aged woman living in New
York, heard footsteps following her as she was returning home alone. She was frightened
but then she became angry at the thought of being victimized. She slowed down; when the
footsteps came nearer, she whirled around and shouted at the top of her voice, 'Get away
from me you son-of-a-bitch or I'll kill you!' The would-be attacker fled." In this
case, anger helped in the instance of physical attack. Anger can also be beneficial when
one's boundaries are violated. (2) If someone is pushing you to the limit, there must
come a point in which you can assert yourself. Without such assertion, others will begin
to make excessive demands on you. People that follow that pattern and constantly give
into others' demands are told that they need to be more assertive. Anger fosters this
self assertion and it helps us display that assertion.
So it appears that we are faced with choosing between two evils. On one hand, we
can lash out at the world, thereby hurting others, or we can bottle in our anger, thereby
hurting ourselves. Anger in all of its manifestations appears to be negative, with few
exceptions, such as the woman that hinders an attack by using anger to scare off the
attacker.
Anger does deserve all of its bad reputation. Anger can be very destructive, it can
lead to liver, heart and artery damage. The key to living with anger is being conscious
of the anger that is within us. Without such knowledge of ourselves, our anger will
remain raw and unfiltered. Wisdom lies in knowing when to deny anger and when to vent
it, when to direct it, and at what target. Leaving anger alone, leaving it to smolder so
to speak, is a dubious method of coping with anger. Aristotle said it best centuries
ago, "Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry at the right person, to
the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - that
is not so easy." (4)
Chronic anger does lead to health problems. Not everyone suffers from anger, but
for those that do, it means a multitude of emotional related illnesses. Anger is often
accompanied by an imbalance of hormones, as Plato recognized, and no imbalance is
healthy in the long run. With consciousness and relaxation, people may be able to
achieve dominance over anger, rather than allowing it to have dominance over them.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 American Heritage Dictionary
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 1985
2 Gaylin, Willard, M.D. The Anger Within: Anger in Modern Life.
Simon and Schuster, New York, NY 1984
3 Internet Research: Coping with Anger, 1996
4 McKay, Rogers When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within.
New Harbinger, Oakland, CA 1989
5 Bernstein and Rozen Dinosaur Brains: Dealing with all Those Impossible People at
Work.
John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY 1989
6 Weisinger, Hendrie, M.D. Anger at Work: Learning the Art of Anger Management on the
Job.
William Morrow and Comapny, New York, NY 1995
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