Anger Issues And Management
Anger is a natural human emotion and can be a healthy response to perceived threats or injustices. However, a lot of people have difficulty with this emotion. Anger issues are an inability to manage your emotions and the actions that stem from them.
A major problem when it comes to anger and getting help with anger is that people do not know what anger is. Anger is an emotion. Emotions are an internal experience and emotions are not behaviours. Anger is not yelling, screaming, shouting, aggression, being out of control, being verbally abusive or being violent (these are all behaviours). Anger is: knowing in your mind that you are angry; feeling hot and strong in your body; and, having the urge to engage in aggressive behaviours. Emotions are ‘feeling states’, behaviours are ‘doing states’.
Often when people say that they have an anger issues, what they really mean is that they have difficulty internally tolerating and regulating anger or other emotions, because they can’t internally tolerate nor regulate their emotions they vent them out in the form of aggressive behaviours. That is, the aggressive behaviours are how people are getting rid of or avoiding having an internal experience of emotions.
Aggression
Getting Help with Anger and/or Aggressive Behaviours
Symptoms of Problematic Anger and/or Aggression
- Outbursts of aggression or rage
- Frequent irritation over seemingly minor issues
- Difficulty calming down after getting angry
- Verbal or physical altercations
- Strained relationships due to your behaviours