What are Anger Issues Anyway? Does It Scare You Or Comfort You?

Anger is a problem when it becomes excessive, overwhelming or persistent. Anger can easily turn into physical or verbal aggression or violence. Signs of unhealthy anger are when you lash out at someone else when you feel angry or if someone gets hurt. Unlike positive anger, this anger becomes is no longer positive or ‘healthy’. You may find yourself getting angry for little things or blaming others for your anger. You might find yourself thinking negatively or pushing people away as a result of your temper.

Unhealthy anger negatively affects our physical, psychological and social well-being. Research shows how anger is linked to various health issues – such as a weakened immune system, increased risk of developing high blood pressure or coronary heart disease. Anger is also linked to insomnia, gastric or digestive problems or headaches. Anger also increases risky behaviours – e.g. overeating, substance use (alcohol or drugs) and risky behaviours (driving under the influence, getting in trouble with the law). Anger also affects your emotional well-being as it makes you more anxious and irritable. Anger can also significantly damage your relationships with family, friends or colleagues. If you are always getting angry, irritable or hostile, people may not want to be around you. And this can leads to more anger or feelings of abandonment or depression.

Anger, if uncontrolled, can easily turn into hostility, rage or violence and as we saw earlier, your anger can hurt other people – emotionally or physically but your anger can also hurt you – i.e. your physical health, and your social and emotional health as well. So, pay attention to the quality and intensity of your anger. It is important to channel this anger into healthy ways so as not to damage relationships or potentially hurt others.

You need to learn how to communicate your anger in healthy ways and this is where a counsellor might teach you healthy ways to express your anger, as well as grounding or anger management techniques to manage your anger so that both you, and others, are safe when you get angry. If you feel like you need support with this, the therapists at In Time Counselling & Consulting Services can help you learn strategies to express your anger in healthier ways.

We have to understand that anger is not an emotion we need to be afraid of nor do we need to repress it. Repressing any emotion actually has more negative consequences than expressing the emotion in healthy ways. When expressed constructively, healthy anger increases self-esteem, self-confidence and also strengthens our relationships. But it is important to learn to communicate this emotion productively so as not to hurt other people or damage our relationships.