Anger, like happiness, sorrow, worry, and contempt, is one of the most fundamental human emotions. These emotions have been perfected over the course of human history and are linked to basic survival.
Anger is linked to the sympathetic nervous system’s “fight, flight, or freeze” response, which prepares humans to battle. Fighting, on the other hand, does not always imply throwing punches. It may inspire communities to take action against injustice by altering laws or establishing new norms.
The Experience of Anger
Everyone has experienced it. It’s the wrath that builds when a car gets cut off on the highway or when an employee’s boss dismisses him. Anger and other negative emotions are difficult to control. However, releasing anger does not provide the catharsis that people need; instead, it tends to feed on itself. Understanding anger—its origins, triggers, and consequences—and cultivating the ability to regulate it may be the best way forward.
How to Deal With Anger
Anger, like all emotions, requires self-awareness to manage. This can help prevent it from becoming hostile, aggressive, or violent against others or oneself.
Anger management support groups can help people understand their feelings, identify their triggers, and learn ways to manage them. Cognitive restructuring can help patients reframe toxic, inflammatory attitudes in groups or individually.
Techniques ranging from deep breathing and emotion labeling to adopting a problem-solving mindset can help people learn to manage their anger on their own outside of treatment.
Tips on How to Control Anger
Understanding the patterns that spark your anger can be beneficial if you are frequently swept away by it. To effectively cope with rage, you can interfere at several points along the path.
- Sleep: Lack of sleep makes it difficult to control angry impulses, so getting enough sleep can help you avoid being provoked.
- Consider alternate interpretations: Also, consider what evidence you have to back up your enraged interpretation. Consider a variety of viewpoints.
- Take deep breaths: Use the diaphragm rather than the chest to take long, slow, deep breaths.
- Avoid the myth of catharsis as a tool of anger management: Venting anger, acting aggressively, and watching aggressive content are all ineffective ways to release anger.
- Recognize that it’s okay to be angry: If you’ve been wronged, treated unfairly, or provoked, you should express your anger assertively rather than aggressively.
Written By: Miss Iffah Imran (Psychologist)
Willing Ways Lahore