Untitled Essay, Research Paper

ANGER MANAGEMENT AND HEALTHby,

Danita C. McCoy

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.

BIBLIOGRAPHY1 American Heritage Dictionary

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 19852 Gaylin, Willard, M.D. The Anger Within: Anger in Modern Life.

Simon and Schuster, New York, NY 19843 Internet Research: Coping with Anger, 19964 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