Anger management techniques and information about anger disorders.

What is Anger?

Everyone has likely experienced anger at some point. Some people become angry more often than others, often experiencing regular, intense outbursts. Others tend to bottle their feelings, later exploding or erupting without apparent warning, like a volcano.

Anger is a basic human emotion and a natural reaction to stress, anxiety and situations beyond our control. Any number of events can trigger or contribute to anger. Observing another person’s harmful behavior, like being abusive toward an animal, can trigger anger, as can watching a favorite sports team lose a game or failing to attain goals at a job, such as losing an account or missing a deadline. In fact, any time our expectations are not being met, we can experience feelings of hurt, disrespect, humiliation, embarrassment, jealousy and sadness — all of which can be mistaken for or contribute to an experience of anger.

As part of the full spectrum of human emotions, anger is healthy. Depending on how it is managed and expressed, anger can be a positive or negative emotional component. Anger has positive consequences when it compels you to address a problem or issue and rectify the situation.

Dealing with anger positively enables you to put negative emotions into perspective. When you feel frustrated or upset or you want to let off steam, there are constructive ways to channel your anger like listening to music, dancing, running or working out at the gym. These strategies often help manage anger disorders.

These kinds of anger management exercises can teach you how to control your short temper. Expressing anger in a negative way leads to various unhealthy behaviors. You may feel out of control when you’re angry and seem threatening to others. When anger interferes with your ability to think or act clearly, it can cause you to invite unnecessary difficulties into your life.

If anger hampers your personal relationships with friends and family, leads to violence, creates trouble in your professional life or makes people fear your temper, you may be experiencing an anger disorder. Learning to recognize the symptoms of anger and deal with them in more healthful ways becomes essential when it negatively impacts your life and the lives of those around you.

What Causes Anger?

Anger disorders are often a consequence of anger that has been suppressed or bottled deep inside a person. If the individual never admits or exposes anger, preferring to put up a stoic front and hide their true feelings, anger disorders can develop. Individuals who have been badly physically or emotionally hurt or have experienced some form of abuse or trauma often have difficulty expressing their emotions, which often leads to suppressing and internalizing their anger.

When this happens, the difficult emotion of anger often manifests in harmful behaviors such as drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders or self-harm. Negative consequences of suppressed anger can include increased tension, feelings of depression, and relationships that do not function healthfully or become broken.

Certain bodily reactions take place when a person experiences the emotion of anger. Heart rate and blood pressure increase and breathing becomes shorter and faster. An individual may also become flushed, perspire heavily, start to shake and clench his or her jaw.

As much as the physical signs of anger may differ from person to person, people express their anger differently. Some people express angry feelings by yelling, verbally abusive others, hurling personal insults, breaking down doors or breaking delicate objects, provoking fist fights, throwing things storming out of the room. Others have been known to express anger by becoming quiet, depressed and introverted.

Help for Anger

Poor anger management not only affects your emotional well-being but your physical health as well. Unmanaged anger can cause high blood pressure, chronic lower back pain, stomach problems and heart disease. It can also lead to anxiety and thoughts of suicide, so treating and managing anger is of upmost importance to overall health.

The good news is that there are many solutions for coping better through anger management techniques. Treating anger is fundamental if you want a happier, more fulfilling life.

Natural and homeopathic remedies can be an important part of an overall anger management strategy. Many herbal ingredients, like chamomile, contain naturally soothing elements that can be used to soothe the symptoms of acute anger while you learn healthier ways of processing your emotions. The proprietary blend of natural ingredients in Anger-Soothe™ work to quell feelings of irritability, frustration and impatience, thereby helping reduce angry outbursts.

Learn Anger Management Techniques

Some anger management techniques include:

• Identifying the cause of your anger
• Speaking to a close family member or friend about how angry you feel
• Practicing relaxation and mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing exercises, meditation or yoga
• Engaging in physical activities such as aerobics, brisk walking, running or dancing
• Reducing your stress levels by having a massage, listening to music or reading a book
• Doing something creative such as painting, sketching, writing poetry or scrap booking

These anger management techniques can be very helpful for many. But if you feel angry all the time and have trouble controlling all your negative emotions, seek professional help from a psychologist or psychiatrist.