Managing your anger

Anger is a normal and natural human emotion and when managed properly it’s not a problem. We are not robots and it would be downright weird if we never got angry! 

That said, anger can become an issue or start to negatively affect your life if it becomes overwhelming, or out of control.

It’s an emotion that can range from mild annoyance to intense rage and can be paired by biological changes in your body. When you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure rise and stress hormones are released. This can cause you to shake, become hot and sweaty and feel out of control.

When people have angry feelings, they often behave in angry ways too. Angry behaviours range from yelling, throwing things, criticising, ignoring, storming out and to withdrawing and doing nothing.

Anger can often lead to violence if not properly controlled and some people use anger as an excuse for being abusive towards others. Violence and abusive behaviour give someone power and control over another person usually through creating fear.

Anger is often associated with frustration – things don’t always happen the way we want and people don’t always behave the way we think they should. It is usually linked with other negative emotions or is a response to them. You may be feeling hurt, frightened, disappointed, worried, embarrassed or frustrated, but may express these sorts of feelings as anger. Anger can also result from misunderstandings or poor communication between people.

Anger is not usually a good solution to problems, even if it seems helpful in the short term. Unmanaged anger creates problems – sometimes for you and often for others around you. People with poor anger management are more likely to have problems with personal relationships or work, verbal and physical fights and/or damaged property. They can also experience anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, psychosomatic illnesses and problems with alcohol or drugs. It is important to manage anger before it leads to other serious problems.

Anger management is about understanding your anger and why it happens. It is about learning and practising better ways of expressing anger and knowing how to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Specifically, anger management is about knowing the triggers and early warning signs of anger, and learning techniques to calm down and manage the situation before it gets out of control.

If you think you may have anger issues, we can help. Visit our team page here to read about our mental health professionals. Call us at 076 680 1060 or email hq@mymind.org to get your first appointment within 72 hours.