Uticopa Blog

Over the past few months The Mental Health Foundation has been researching whether or not we are becoming a nation of angry people, and what support there is for those who feel that they cannot control this primal emotion.

Of the 2,000 people surveyed, almost a third said that they knew someone who struggled with anger, and in a similar Government survey more than three fifths said they felt people were getting angrier.

What is quite worrying is that there really is very little help being offered to people who suffer from anger management problems. Anger is seen to be a symptom of a condition such as anxiety or depression and not worthy of "condition" status in itself. As a result, people will not generally be referred to a mental health professional until their anger has actually caused them to commit an aggressive act.

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How do we show our anger?

Here are two people arguing during a political protest. Both protesters became angry and aggressive, as evidenced by their body language and facial expressions. Their faces are flushed, the brow muscles have moved inward and downward, fixing a hard stare on the target. The nostrils have flared and the jaw muscles tend toward clenching. Also, raising of the arms and adopting a squared-off stance are early actions for attack and defense. The muscle tension provides a sense of strength and self-assurance. An impulse to strike out accompanies this subjective feeling of potency.

People use a variety of both conscious and unconscious processes to deal with their angry feelings. The three main approaches are:

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We all think we understand what anger is. However, today's society produces so many frightening situations triggering our anger - whether it be terrorism on a global scale, or the burgeoning effects of too-many people trying to live in too-small a space -  that it's worth ‘unpacking' exactly what anger is so that we can begin to understand and eventually control it.

What exactly is anger?

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion that sometimes gets out of control. We should remember that it's the body's natural ‘fight or flight response' to the perceived threat of pain. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively and physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force. Anger produces powerful, often aggressive, feelings and behaviour so that we are able to fight and defend ourselves when we are attacked. A certain amount of anger, therefore, is necessary for our survival.

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"Anger is a great force. If you control it, it can be transmuted into a power which can move the whole world."  William Shenstone (Scottish writer, 1714-63)

Change the way you think

Angry people tend to swear or speak in highly colourful language that reflects their inner thoughts. Try replacing these thoughts with more rational ones. For instance, instead of telling yourself "oh, everything's ruined," tell yourself "it's frustrating but it's not the end of the world and, in any case, getting angry is not going to make things any better."

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