Anger

Let’s have a look at anger….

Anger is very present and real in the world….but what is it exactly?  In a nutshell, anger is a feeling we can all have – an emotion that humans have in response to frustration, injury – a negative impact on the self.

Contrary to popular misconception, anger is not a behaviour. So, when someone says, “He was acting very angry” – that’s not the case. “He was feeling very angry” is more like it, as anger is an emotion.

However, anger can motivate action of some description. Action can sometimes (but not always) be aggressive.

There are different types of aggression:

  • Instrumental aggression – to get some reward, not to get revenge
  • Hostile aggression – to hurt someone or get revenge
  • Annoyance aggression – to stop an irritant

When aggression becomes extreme, this is said to be rage. And assertiveness should not be confused with aggression either. Assertiveness is where we stand up for ourselves tactfully and rationally.

Anger can also be distinguished from hostility, which is a chronic state of anger. Anger is a temporary response which we all have to frustrating situations. Hostility is longer term and would generally need psychotherapy to work through changing behaviours.

There are different types of anger, such as Manifest Anger (obvious anger) and Latent Anger (repressed to an unconscious level and can be one of the underlying issues in chronic depression).

The cause of anger can result from many situations, such as relationship problems, family problems, workplace problems, health problems and environment problems.

I think anger is an interesting subject area.  So if you’d like to know more, please download the article which looks at anger and anger management tips.  So if you suffer from anger issues and you can relate to what you have read here, please get in touch.

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