Some mental health professionals refer to anger as a secondary emotion. According to Dr. Harry Mills, anger is the emotion we are most aware we are experiencing. However, anger usually just hides the presence of deeper and less comfortable emotions like sadness, guilt, embarrassment, hurt, fear, etc.
Anger: fury, outrage, wrath, irritability, hostility, resentment and violence.
Anger is a secondary emotion
Typically, we experience a primary emotion like fear, loss, or sadness first. Because these emotions create feelings of vulnerability and loss of control, they make us uncomfortable. One way of attempting to deal with these feelings is by subconsciously shifting into anger.
Repressed anger can lead to depression, paranoia, and passive-aggressive behavior. Someone who represses anger may fear that if they directly expressed it, they would be rejected or abandoned. Reclaiming the right to assertive anger can undo the damage repressed anger has caused.
People often express their anger in different ways, but they usually share four common triggers. We organize them into buckets: frustrations, irritations, abuse, and unfairness.
It can give you a way to express negative feelings, for example, or motivate you to find solutions to problems. But excessive anger can cause problems. Increased blood pressure and other physical changes associated with anger make it difficult to think straight and harm your physical and mental health.
Anger and the Core Hurt Types
Often when we get angry about something, there is hurt behind why we are offended. There are 8 Core Hurt Feelings: disregarded, unimportant, accused, guilty, devalued, rejected, powerless, inadequate, or unlovable.
Scientists have identified a specific region of the brain called the amygdala, as the part of the brain that processes fear, triggers anger, and motivates us to act. It alerts us to danger and activates the fight or flight response.
Physical effects of anger
The adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.The brain shunts blood away from the gut and towards the muscles, in preparation for physical exertion.
Epinephrine which is also known as adrenaline, is a chemical compound with formula (HO) 2C6H3CH (OH) CH2NHCH3 and is released while becoming angry.
Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is an impulse-control disorder characterized by sudden episodes of unwarranted anger. The disorder is typified by hostility, impulsivity, and recurrent aggressive outbursts. People with IED essentially “explode” into a rage despite a lack of apparent provocation or reason.
As a part of Potter-Efron's book he talks about the 6 stages of an emotional or anger event which is what I want to talk about in this blog entry. In order from 1 to 6 they are: activation, modulation, preparation, action, feedback and deactivation.
xi The arousal cycle of anger has five phases: trigger, escalation, crisis, recovery and depression. Understanding the cycle helps us to understand our own reactions and those of others.
There are healthy ways of managing anger and any other intense emotion you might feel overwhelmed by. For example, self-soothing skills or taking a time-out. Finally, seeking out social support can also be an effective way to cope with and manage anger. Other emotion regulation strategies can also help.
Get Therapy
First and foremost: if you are a survivor of trauma, the most effective way you can work through it is through therapy. Specially trained trauma-informed therapists can provide support to walk you through the anger and other emotions brought about by your trauma.
Many people experience anger after a disaster or other traumatic event. They may feel angry about the damage the disaster has caused, changes to their short- or long-term plans, the long recovery process, financial worries and problems, and their reactions to the disaster that are hard to deal with.
Through his research, Fields outlines the nine primary triggers of the human rage circuit and puts them into the handy mnemonic LIFEMORTS: Life-or-death situation, Insult, Family, Environment, Mate, Order in society, Resources, Tribe and Stopped (being restrained or cornered).
Many things can trigger anger attacks, including stress, financial issues, work, and social pressures, family or relationship troubles, lack of sleep, and even frustration over having panic disorder, agoraphobia, or another type of anxiety disorder.
Rage (also known as frenzy or fury) is intense, uncontrolled anger that is an increased stage of hostile response to a perceived egregious injury or injustice.
Enraged. This is the stage when you feel completely out of control. You may exhibit destructive behavior when your anger reaches this point, such lashing out physically, excessive swearing, or threatening violence.