Have You Gone Mad?

Still Emotion Runs Deep

Anger is one of those emotions that is not entirely understood for two reasons: 1) Anger is a secondary emotion; 2) Both the underlying causes of anger and the ways in which anger manifests looks differently for everybody.

Whether you are fuming quietly to yourself or you are outwardly hostile towards others as a result of your anger, the end result is the same; you are left feeling isolated and feeling as though you are required to suppress your anger even more than you did in the past. This creates a vicious cycle.

My objective with this blog post is to normalize feelings of anger as well as to encourage healthy communication around the anger—because just like sadness or happiness, anger is just as valid as an emotion and therefore needs to be expressed in a healthy way.

Rothenberg (2017) reports: “the presence of anxiety associated with anger is apparent in those instances where action is inhibited and anger is unexpressed. The state of arousal and motoric readiness continues and subtle involuntary reactions occur such as trembling, overall tension, and hyperalertness. A vicious cycle ensues where further arousal occurs readily and anxiety increases until there is disruption of thought processes; the irrationality associated with outbursts of temper or acute anxiety. Although anxiety may also instigate the motor discharge of running away, pacing back and forth, or other aimless movements, such acts too, creates a vicious cycle. Reinforcing a sense of helplessness which may lead to even greater anxiety.”

When you experience destructive thoughts and/or are faced with a perceived threat, pain or obstruction—- inadvertently are those thoughts associated with anxiety and guilt which we can attribute to the social stigmatization coupled with the fear of loss and control when anger is expressed.

Robethenberg (2017) states, “If we direct our attention to the sense of threat, fear, and insecurity when confronted with an irrationally angry person, his rationality usually returns quite rapidly and his anger subsides. Serious consequences such as violence may be averted”.

To further exemplify Rothenbergs’ (2017) delineation of the vicious cycle that anger ensues, I will use the analogy of a hot tub in the following example to highlight the importance of identifying and exercising an individualized filtration system to alleviate anger and restore homeostasis.

Think of a hot tub without a filter and without a detoxification system to remove impurities and harsh chemicals. Imagine all of that toxic material swirling around the hot tub and having no where to go—now imagine that the same is true for you and your human vessel each time you become filled with anger and rage. Without a filtration system to purify the water, inevitably the container becomes contaminated because there is no outlet or release. Similarly to how one who does not have a healthy outlet for emotion is left in a pool of harmful thoughts and unresolved feelings of anger, irritability and discontent. Still emotion runs deep.

#FINDYOURFILTER

Albert Rothenberg, M.D. Understanding Anger. Jun 17, 2017. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creative-explorations/201706/understanding-anger