Common roots of anger include fear, pain, and frustration. For example, some people become angry as a fearful reaction to uncertainty, to fear of losing a job, or to fear of failure. Others become angry when they are hurt in relationships or are caused pain by close friends.
We can feel angry for many different reasons. It might be because of a difficult situation we're experiencing. Or something that happened to us in the past. Sometimes, we might feel anger because of how we interpret and react to certain situations.
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.
A leading cause of anger is a person's environment. Stress, financial issues, abuse, poor social or familial situations, and overwhelming requirements on your time and energy can all contribute to the formation of anger.
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.
Intermittent explosive disorder (IED) is a mental health condition marked by frequent impulsive anger outbursts or aggression.
Anger can be a symptom of both anxiety and depression, as well as other mental health conditions. Anxiety can make someone angry as it can trigger our natural 'fight or flight' instinct, and as a result, someone may start acting out towards those around them as a way of protecting themselves.
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.
Modern psychologists view anger as a normal, natural, and mature emotion experienced by virtually all humans at times, and as something that has functional value for survival.
Can Someone with Anger Issues Change? People can and do change their behavioral patterns all the time–that's often the goal of therapy. However, people with anger issues can only change if they make a commitment and put in the work.
Unhealthy anger is...
It is more based on emotion than on fact. Can make us feel impulsive and out of control of our actions. Not conducive to conversation and does not make space to problem solve. This form of anger it's not productive and doesn't address the anger itself.
SSRIs that have been shown to help with anger include citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), among others. Sertraline seems to have the most supporting data. Other classes of antidepressants, like serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), aren't widely used for treating anger.
If you have PTSD, this higher level of tension and arousal can become your normal state. That means the emotional and physical feelings of anger are more intense. If you have PTSD, you may often feel on edge, keyed up, or irritable.
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.
Psychologists say that love is the strongest emotion. Humans experience a range of emotions from happiness to fear and anger with its strong dopamine response, but love is more profound, more intense, affecting behaviors, and life-changing.
Anger arrives in response to some outside element, at the core of which is always emotional pain. This emotional pain typically won't trigger an anger response on its own. Instead, there's an accompanying anger-triggering thought that comes with it.
Quick-tempered people are irritable and a little bit unpredictable. You could also describe them as "short-tempered" or "hot-tempered." Some people can laugh off things that irritate or aggravate them, or think them over thoughtfully, or just ignore them.