Dealing with difficult emotions like anger can be quite tough sometimes. Even though anger is a normal human emotion, the inability to control anger can affect the overall quality of our lives. Anger is not a character trait, as some people believe. It is an emotion that is inherent in all people and is a protective reaction of the nervous system to external stimuli. There can be many triggers that cause anger from conflicts at work and personal relationships to traumatic experiences. Anger issues can be tied to fears, phobias, sleep deprivation, insomnia, anxiety, and stress. Anger leads to many changes in our bodies like breathing difficulty, muscle tension, increased heart rate, and blood pressure.
But why do some people know how to control emotions, and others lose their temper over nothing? The intensity and frequency of manifestations of anger depend on the emotional and psychological state of a person. If you show anger not often, it is not dangerous, because emotion is a kind of defense mechanism that does not let negative factors affect the brain. But if aggression occurs often, it can disrupt your nervous system. The nervous system is responsible for the regulation of many processes and reactions in the body. Possible side effects of anger include general exhaustion of the body, deterioration of the cardiovascular system, decreased immunity, irritability and increased nervous excitability, decreased brain activity, and problems in personal relationships and at work.
Effective Anger Management Strategies
If you are struggling with anger issues, try out the following strategies. However, if the inability to keep anger under control hurts your life, it might be time to consult a psychologist.
- Talk to someone. You can call a loved one and tell him or her about your experiences and feelings. He or she will support you and the aggression will recede.
- Look for the causes of anger. Of course, it is almost impossible to understand them in an agitated state, but you can analyze the situation after it has happened. Try to find out what it was that made you angry: helplessness, inability to perform this or that action, possible consequences of the event. If you experience anger in almost the same cases, by understanding and accepting the causes of emotions, you can learn to control yourself.
- Every time you feel strong anger, try to look at yourself and the situation from the outside. Are the events really that unpleasant and serious? Perhaps everything can be corrected or changed. And some situations may not even affect you directly.
- Try to avoid situations that cause anger. For example, if there is a conflict with a colleague or relative, then find a compromise, keep silent, or simply remove yourself to distract yourself and forget about the experience.
- Try journaling. Write down the emotions and events that triggered the anger. Make notes in a notebook or notepad, reread them, and make an evaluation of the actions. This way you will understand the nature of anger and be able to suppress it.
- Master the technique of visualization. Learn to turn on your imagination at any time and imagine yourself in another place or time. Choose the most pleasant events and periods: important dates, favorite places, and so on. Starting to get angry, create images in your head, and negative emotions will be displaced by pleasant ones. But to master the technique, practicing regularly, and fantasizing several times a day.
- Regularly give free rein to emotions. You can scream into a pillow, beat a punching bag, stomp your feet, and so on. Such actions are especially useful for a woman because, in everyday life, representatives of the fair sex are obliged to hold back and always look good. The main thing is that the actions do not cause harm to others.
- Master different relaxation techniques. For example, you can close your eyes, breathe deeply, imagine something pleasant, listen to music, gamble at 22bat.info read, and exercise. Choose activities you enjoy.
- Vent your anger and frustration. Any energy can be directed in the right direction, and it will be a wonderful discharge. You can dance, sing, paint, have fun with friends, do extreme sports, travel. Choose an activity that helps you to vent your emotions.
If you have serious problems with your psychological state, and emotions often overwhelm you, seek help from a specialist. We’ve already mentioned it but it is important to keep it in mind. Understanding yourself will help counseling psychologists, but to eliminate the consequences of psychological trauma can be an experienced psychotherapist.