Losing your temper easily often stems from underlying stress, fatigue, hunger, or unmet needs, but can also signal mental health issues like depression, anxiety, or ADHD, or past trauma, with anger often masking deeper feelings like sadness or fear. Negative thought patterns (blaming, overgeneralizing), poor emotional regulation, relationship conflicts, or learned behaviors from childhood can also make you more irritable and prone to outbursts.
Get some exercise. Physical activity can help reduce stress that can cause you to become angry. If you feel your anger escalating, go for a brisk walk or run. Or spend some time doing other enjoyable physical activities.
Common Triggers for Sudden Anger Over Small Things:
Unresolved stress or trauma. Sleep deprivation. ADHD or sensory overload. Poor emotional regulation habits.
ADHD rage, or emotional dysregulation, looks like sudden, intense outbursts (meltdowns or shutdowns) disproportionate to the trigger, manifesting as yelling, throwing things, intense crying, physical tension (clenching fists/jaw, stomping), or total withdrawal, stemming from the brain's difficulty regulating emotions, making small frustrations feel overwhelming and leading to "volcanic" reactions that seem to come from nowhere.
It may be triggered by external factors such as bullying, humiliation, and loss. Internal factors, such as frustration or failure, can also lead to anger. Anger is not always a reaction to your present circumstances.
Borderline Personality Disorders (BPD)
Borderline Personality Disorder is characterized by intense emotions, fear of abandonment and unstable relationships. People with BPD often experience intense anger, known as “borderline rage,” which can be disproportionate to the situation.
Symptoms of stress
The 20-minute rule for ADHD is a productivity strategy to overcome task paralysis by committing to work on a task for just 20 minutes, leveraging the brain's need for dopamine and short bursts of focus, making it easier to start and build momentum, with the option to stop or continue after the timer goes off, and it's a variation of the Pomodoro Technique, adapted for ADHD's unique challenges like time blindness. It helps by reducing overwhelm, providing a clear starting point, and creating a dopamine-boosting win, even if you only work for that short period.
Irritability (angry, touchy, temper outbursts) and oppositional behavior are common in ADHD-C and in autism. In a pediatric clinical sample, aggression (physical, verbal, or relational) was significantly associated with irritability.
Dr. Stern says that an occasional meltdown is completely normal. “You may suddenly burst into tears or lash out with anger because you feel out of control, overwhelmed with pressures and things in your life that are unpredictable. That doesn't mean something is 'wrong' with you,” she says.
It could be something as simple as being hungry or tired. Or, maybe something recently happened in your life that has you feeling scared, angry, or stressed out. Mental health struggles can also make you irritable, so if you haven't taken one of our mental health test yet, try that.
People with ADHD may cry more easily due to intense emotions and emotional lability. The decreased ability to manage emotions can result in frequent emotional outbursts or tears in response to emotional stimuli.
Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) involves frequent episodes of impulsive anger that's out of proportion to the event that triggered it. These outbursts can result in physical harm to the person with IED, other people or animals. It's essential to seek medical treatment for IED as soon as possible.
The 5 second rule means taking a pause — literally just five seconds — before you respond to something emotionally charged. It sounds simple, and in fact, it is that simple. When you get triggered in a fight, instead of immediately saying something you could regret — you stop, count to five, and take a deep breath.
Sertraline, fluoxetine, and escitalopram are SSRIs that many doctors begin with. These medications often reduce irritability within four to six weeks. Research shows people who take an SSRI report fewer verbal outbursts and faster recovery when upset.
Some people are raised to see an outburst of anger as an exercise of authority or a way to exert oneself, as a sign of strength. But when you aren't able to detach from your emotions, it's actually a sign of weakness.
The 24-hour rule for ADHD is a self-regulation strategy to combat impulsivity by creating a mandatory waiting period (often a full day) before reacting to emotionally charged situations or making significant decisions, allowing time for reflection and reducing regretful snap judgments, especially for things like impulse purchases or arguments. It's a pause button that gives the brain space to process, move from impulse to intention, and evaluate choices more logically, helping manage ADHD's impact on emotional regulation and decision-making.
ADHD rage, or emotional dysregulation, looks like sudden, intense outbursts (meltdowns or shutdowns) disproportionate to the trigger, manifesting as yelling, throwing things, intense crying, physical tension (clenching fists/jaw, stomping), or total withdrawal, stemming from the brain's difficulty regulating emotions, making small frustrations feel overwhelming and leading to "volcanic" reactions that seem to come from nowhere.
Irritability can be caused by hunger, fatigue, drug and alcohol use and mental and physical health conditions. Physical health conditions can include: dementia. premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Increase stress relief by exercising outdoors—people with ADHD often benefit from sunshine and green surroundings. Try relaxing forms of exercise, such as mindful walking, yoga, or tai chi. In addition to relieving stress, they can teach you to better control your attention and impulses.
The ADHD burnout cycle is a pattern where constant effort to manage ADHD symptoms (like executive dysfunction, overstimulation, and masking) leads to extreme mental/physical exhaustion, a "crash," and a shame spiral, often followed by trying to overcompensate again, repeating the cycle. It involves phases like the initial push/overcompensation, the struggle/stress, the collapse/shutdown, and the guilt-ridden recovery attempt, resulting in fatigue, irritability, procrastination, and disengagement from life.
For adults, 7-8 hours is recommended. Try to avoid napping during the day. Optimise your sleep environment. Make sure your environment is quiet, calm and comfortable.
This can be caused by various factors, including too many responsibilities, traumatic events, and major life changes. Overwhelm can manifest physically, with symptoms such as a racing heart, difficulty concentrating, and cognitive fatigue.
Passing feelings of depersonalization or derealization are common and are not always a cause for concern. But ongoing or serious feelings of detachment and distortion of your surroundings can be a sign of depersonalization-derealization disorder or another physical or mental health condition.