3/04/2010

New Discoveries About the Experience of Anger

Know someone with a hair trigger temper? Do those bulging veins at his temples during his raging meltdown have any other consequences, besides making you want to run for cover? What are the potential problems of daily fits?

Angry people are by nature, out of control, and this is why they are obsessed with dominating, and controlling those around them. They are attempting to make up for their own lack of control by controlling others, and their environment. This also gives them the necessary 'excuses' to act out their rage, others will never meet the anger addicts level of perfection, and the anger addict then has a reason to rage. The anger addict is covering up his own bottomless well of fear, inadequacy and insecurity, he uses the mask of rage to hide his fear, and create fear in others. Anger addicts generally have limited self awareness, due to having created fear in those around them, no one dares confront them, and their control issues make accepting 'help' nearly impossible for them.  Ultimately, the anger addict ends up alone, driving away anyone who cares, and using the caring persons  departure as another excuse for rage. The anger addicts lack of self awareness, and need to blame others makes him forget that it was his own daily rage, that came BEFORE the departure, that caused others to abandon him. People who are angry a lot also tend to have other chronic negative emotions as well, including anxiety, depression, and paranoia

New discoveries about anger explain why the majority of our elderly population are of good nature, sweet and happy people....read on for information from wikipedia, Science Daily and webMD

In modern society, anger is viewed as an immature or uncivilized response... conditioning can cause inappropriate expressions of anger such as uncontrolled violent outbursts, misdirected anger ...more from wikipedia

 Anger and hostility are significantly associated with both a higher risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy individuals and poorer outcomes in patients with existing heart disease, according to the first quantitative review and meta-analysis of related studies, which appears in the March 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology......more from Science Daily

 Younger people, those with children and less-educated individuals are more likely to experience anger, according to new UofT research. Professor Scott Schieman from the Sociology Department at the University of Toronto has published new findings about the experience of anger. In a chapter in the forthcoming International Handbook of Anger, to be released in January 2010, Schieman documents the basic social patterns and contexts of anger....more from Science Daily


Scientists speculate that anger may produce direct biological effects on the heart and arteries. Negative emotions, such as anger, quickly activate the "fight-or-flight response." They also trigger the "stress axis," Kubzansky says. "That's a slightly slower response, but it activates a cascade of neurochemicals that are all geared toward helping you in the short run if you're facing a crisis."....Anger may also disrupt the electrical impulses of the heart and provoke dangerous heart rhythm disturbances.


Other research suggests that stress hormones may lead to higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a substance linked to atherosclerosis and future heart disease risk. In 2004, Duke University scientists who studied 127 healthy men and women found that those prone to anger, hostility, and depression had two to three times higher CRP levels than their more placid peers.
"CRP levels at this range are associated with inflammation that is likely to eventually increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke," ................more from WebMD


Image: Vajrapani


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8 comments:

Women Awakened said...

Personally, I don't believe that there is such a thing as an angry person by nature. We aren't born angry. Children feel anger very spontaneously and completely. It's only when they get older and are trained to "control" and suppress the natural expression of their emotions, that they develop into something volcanic.

According to "The book of secrets", Osho claims that there are no good or bad emotions. When we judge our experience in any way it causes a fragmentation of self and perpetuates what we label as "negative emotions". He suggests that one of the best ways of dealing with anger is to become a neutral observer of it, at which point it will dissolve very naturally.

Vikram M said...

Hi Dev,

Very enlightening blog entry..but...

"....New discoveries about anger explain why the majority of our elderly population are of good nature, sweet and happy people...."

This sentence is a projection of what "should be" onto what actually is.

The "sweet elderly person" is a stereotype...

om said...

Women Awakened, welcome!
Yes, anger is a learned behavior, and it grows or dies depending on our feeding it or starving it. Most of us have angry moments, and Osho's wise words are sufficient to correct the problem, but for some anger has become an over fed beast that has taken them over...for these people something like their heart attacking them may be the only thing that loosens the grip of the angry beast.

om said...

Vikram,
elderly people can be anything but sweet and good natured, and I have met my fair share of cranky, cantankerous old coots....but, I think if we took a poll we would see a slightly more 'happy' people in the elderly population....in fact, I am going to go look for some supporting research right now! ;) don't you just luv the web?!!

Women Awakened said...

You are right Dev that sometimes the only way some people release the grips of anger is through a heart attack.
There is an interesting book by Dr. Mimi Guarneri called "The Heart Speaks".
She claims that people who walk around with unresolved heartache and heartbreak are more likely to suffer heart disease, heart attacks and stroke, even when they are in optimal physical health.

Vikram M said...

"Cantankerous old coots"...has a nice ring to it, quite poetic actually. Committed to memory, thanks! :-)

When I was at age 10-15, I was convinced that 65+ people were a conspiracy against me.

But soon I realised they were just irritating and nothing more.

Some of them could be sweet. Not discounting the possibility.

regards.

om said...

our elders who are less than sweet and charming are actually more than irritating...they are way funny!
Check out my new guru, crabby old fart Don Mills at
http://crabbyoldfart.wordpress.com/
according to Don his 'real friends' are all dead, but he has 390,478 irate young people as wannabe friends. Don blogs about the problem with god damned young people.....

If forced to choose I'll take snarky humor with it's ring of truth over the often less than authentic 'sweetness and light'....

Vikram Madan said...

Nice blog, the man is quite enlightening...but if he loses his sense of humour someday, I'd shoot him dead. ;-)