Anger Management And Health Essay, Research Paper

Anger Management And Health

by, Danita C. McCoy

Anger Management and Conflict

Dr. Daube, Instructor

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