What Is Anger

Anger is called an unpleasant feeling and it is experienced when we are frustrated or out of control due to the words, actions, or attitudes of others. The word is therefore derived from the word “anger”, which comes from the Latin vulgar inodiāre (meaning “anger”). Anger often puts our spirit at odds with another person or specific situations that make us unpleasant or unfair. In this sense, the cause of anger may be internal or internal. They are external when they are related to what is happening around us, such as a deadlock with another person, a lack of respect, a disobedient attitude, a misunderstanding, or a mistake. Internally, when we experience them internally, such as personal problems, unresolved situations in the past, or unpleasant memories of traumatic events, when we return to memory, we wake up feelings of anger.

anger no dimensAnger is a very complex emotion that all people experience. It exists in any of our actions and may arise from various situations, such as labor conflicts, unfair and disrespectful treatment, helpless frustration, and so on. In these cases, anger may be as mild as a brief aversion, or become filled with resentment and hatred. Anger is based on other emotions, such as frustration, depression, distress, heavy, anger, hatred, resentment, jealousy, contempt, dislike,  hate, etc., which can cause great personal irritability or dissatisfaction. On the other hand, anger also produces physical changes that may be harmful to your health, such as faster breathing, increased adrenaline, faster heart rhythms, and high blood pressure. When one or more people encounter a situation that causes them to be angry, they usually react to the situation and express themselves by shouting, insulting, and beating. That is, people seek attacks to defend or evade threats.

From a psychological perspective, anger can be manifested with varying degrees of intensity, depending on the severity of the motivation to release it. Therefore, if the patient does not know how to deal with anger, it can be expressed with mild verbal warnings or unusual anger, and can even be dangerous. In this way, when we are angry, it is accompanied by psychological and biological changes. That is, parameters such as our heart rate or blood pressure, and the level of separation of certain hormones, increase. In psychological research, anger is understood as a brain response trying to face a threat. However, experts clarified that anger is not a susceptibility to human genetics, nor is it part of its evolution. Anger is part of human behavior and therefore produces cognitive reactions (explanation of the situation) and physical reactions (physical changes), many of which produce conscious decisions. Human beings are angry when they lack love, that is, they do not meet the needs of love and affection. However, sometimes the anger is so strong that people take action without considering the consequences.

Anger is an emotional state that changes in intensity from mild irritation to intense violence. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physical and biological changes. When a person is angry, their heart rate and blood pressure increase, and hormones such as adrenaline and norepinephrine increase. Anger may be due to external or internal events. We may be angry at specific people (such as colleagues or supervisors) or events (traffic congestion, flight cancellations), or we may be angry when we worry and think about personal issues. The memories of traumatic events or the emotions that make us angry can also trigger them. Anger is normal and generally healthy emotion.

However, when it loses control and becomes destructive, it can cause problems such as problems at work, relationships, and the overall quality of life of a person. It can give a sense of unpredictable and powerful emotions. The instinct and natural way to express anger is to respond positively. Anger is a natural and adaptive response to threats that inspires powerful and often aggressive emotions and behaviors, enabling us to fight and defend ourselves when attacked. Therefore, a little amount of anger is necessary for our survival. On the other hand, you should not strike everyone or objects that bother us. Laws, social norms, and common sense limit the scope of our anger.

People use a kinds of conscious and unconscious ways to deal with their anger. The three main aspects are: expression, restraint and calmness. Expressing feelings of anger in a confident, non-aggressive way is the healthiest way. To do this, you must first learn to understand your needs and how to meet their needs without harming others. Being aggressive doesn’t mean attacking or demanding of others. This means respecting yourself and others. Another way to deal with anger is to suppress it and then convert or redirect it. This happens when you suppress anger, stop thinking and focus on what you do actively. The goal is to suppress or suppress anger and turn it into more constructive behavior. The danger of this reaction is that if you suppress the outward expression of anger, it will turn inward to you, causing high blood pressure or depression. Unexpressed anger can cause other problems.

For example, it can lead to pathological manifestations of anger, such as passive aggressive behavior (indirect revenge, without explicit motivation, rather than facing people directly), or permanent cynicism and hostility. People who constantly degrade others, criticize everything and be cynical have not learned how to express their anger in a constructive way. No wonder these people usually don’t have much success in relationships. Another strategy is to be calm. This means not only controlling external behavior, but also internal reactions, taking steps to lower heart rate, calming emotions and letting anger dissipate.

The purpose of controlling anger is to reduce the emotional and physical activation caused by anger. Maybe you can’t avoid or get rid of the things or people that cause anger or change them, but you can decide to learn and control your reaction. Some people are more likely to get angry or even more angry than ordinary people. Some people do not show their anger in a spectacular or noisy manner, but rather long-term irritability and resentment. People who are prone to anger are not always cursing or throwing things into the air, but sometimes they are isolated, stuffy or unwell. People who are easily provoked often have the low endurance to frustration that psychologists say, which means they don’t have to suffer frustration, inconvenience, or inconvenience. Things can’t go as they are, and if things don’t seem to be fair to some extent, they will be particularly annoyed: for example, when they correct for a small mistake. The cause can be genetic or physiological; there is evidence that some children are irritable, susceptible, and prone to anger, which occurs at an early age. Another reason may be that they teach us how to deal with anger.

 

Generally, anger is considered negative. Many of us are taught to express anxiety, depression, or other emotions correctly, but not to express anger. Therefore, we will not learn how to guide or guide it in a constructive way. The study also found that family history plays an important role. Often, people who get angry easily come from families that are disruptive, confusing, and unsuitable for emotional communication.

Psychologists think anger is a dangerous myth. Some people use this theory as an excuse to hurt others. Studies have found that being taken away by anger and released at will will trigger more anger and aggression and will not help resolve the situation. It’s best to discover what triggers your anger, and then develop strategies to prevent these triggers from getting you out of trouble. If you think anger is indeed out of your control, and if it negatively affects relationships and important areas of people’s lives, you may need professional help to better handle these situations. Psychologists can work with the person to develop a range of technologies to change their thinking and behaviors and make them more constructive. When looking for a therapist, patients must ensure that their scope of work is not only to help them connect with and express their emotions, because this may be exactly their problem and it will only get worse. With the help of a psychologist, a very angry person can reach an average level of anger in about seven to ten weeks, depending on the environment and treatment technique used.

Anger is a natural emotion that usually results from a perceived threat or loss. This is a universal emotion; it affects our bodies, thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Anger is often represent in terms of its intensity, frequency, duration, threshold, and expression. Anger usually follows a forecast pattern: a cycle. Understanding the cycle of anger can asssist us understand the anger response of ourselves and others. It can also help us consider the most appropriate response. Here are the five phases of the anger cycle: trigger, escalate, crisis, recover, and frustrate.

Trigger phase

The trigger phase occurs when we sense a threat or loss and our bodies are ready to respond. At this stage, there is a slight change from the normal / adapted state to the stress state. The trigger of anger varies from person to person and may come from the environment or our thought process.

Escalation phase

During the escalation phase, angry reactions gradually emerged. At this stage, our bodies prepare for the crisis after realizing the triggers. Most of the preparation is a physical preparation, which is manifested by symptoms such as shortness of breath, rapid heart rhythm, and elevated blood pressure. Once the upgrade phase is reached, it is unlikely to calm down, as this is the phase in which the body prepares for combat or flight.

Crisis stage

As mentioned earlier, the escalation phase is gradual, and during the crisis phase, the anger response peaks. During the crisis phase, our bodies are in a state of high alert, ready to take steps to deal with triggers. At this stage, logic and rationality may be limited, even if it is not impaired by the instinct of anger. In extreme cases, a crisis stage means that a person may pose serious danger to himself or others.

Recovery phase

The recovery phase occurs after the anger has dissipated or at least controlled, and now people are gradually returning to normal / adapted states. At this stage, reasoning and return to one’s self-awareness. With the right interventions, the process of returning to normal will go smoothly. However, inappropriate interventions may re-anger and become a new trigger.

Depression

Depression marked a return to normal / adaptive style. Physically, this phase marks below-normal vital signs, such as the heart rhythm, so the body can restore balance. At this point, one will make full use of his talents, and new knowledge will help one evaluate what has just happened. Therefore, this stage may be embarrassing, internal, regretful and / or frustrating.

After the depression phase, return to the normal or adaptation phase. However, a new trigger can restart the entire cycle.

Here is an example of a person going through five phases of the anger cycle:

When Josephine returned home from work, he saw dirty dishes left in the sink (trigger phase).

She started cleaning them, but in the process, she kept thinking about how inadvertently her children were not taking care of themselves. She is off work and does not need additional work. While washing dishes (escalation phase), she felt her neck hot and her hands shaking.

Feeling unbearable, she rushed into the room to face the children. In a raising voice, she asked them how difficult it was to wash the dishes. She told them that they were being punished for lack of responsibility (crisis phase).

After speaking these words, she felt very calm and her heartbeat slowly returned to normal. When she interrupted the child, she saw that the children were doing their homework. She was also able to hear their reasoning when they apologized (the recovery phase).

Josephine regrets yelling at her child and tells them that she is just tired, it is not their fault (depression stage).

Note: The duration of each phase varies from person to person. Some people also skip certain stages, or they go through these stages privately and / or unconsciously.