Anger Management

Anger is one of the most universal of human emotions. Breathes there a man or woman who has not experienced anger in its mildest form? You could even argue that anger is the most common of human emotions. Look through history. and you’ll find it replete with examples of men and women who might have been immune to love, compassion and tolerance. But, anger is conspicuous by its presence every where.

Anger can be defined in different ways although all these definitions have the same connotations. Anger may be defined as a belligerence or a negative feeling in the face of a perceived danger to oneself or to others who are close to the person. This danger may be real or imaginary. Anger is known by many names – wrath, vengefulness, fury etc. All of these mean the same thing – an extreme reaction to the environment or people in it as a result of a perceived threat from a person or a situation.

In modern society the prevalence of anger has risen manifold due to the stresses placed on individuals by daily life. There are bills to pay, families to take care of, additional responsibilities and the stresses of competing in the rat race, all combining to create a perfect environment for anger to take control and fester.

Is Anger Always a Bad Thing?

Society tends to place a negative connotation on the emotion of anger. We are taught that it is an undesirable feeling. Angry people are shunned as ones who are impossible to get along with, that they are always in search of something or some one to be angry with. This mindset begins right during childhood when we discourage children from showing negative emotions when they are angered by a situation.

However, anger is not always a negative emotion. Channeled in the right direction, anger can become a catalyst for change and help us find a solution to a problem. Anger can be a huge motivator, and pushes us to reach a goal when we are sufficiently angered about the potentialities of what might happen if we do not reach the goal. Anger is a healthy and necessary human emotion.

A person who never gets angry or never even feels a little vexation at another is not really a human being. Controlling anger is necessary, but we are all prone to feeling some amount of human emotion against a situation or to react in a negative manner when we are threatened (although this only refers to real threats, not imaginary ones that exist only in our mind).

Suppressing anger at all times also is not a very healthy practice. A healthy expression of anger provided these are not regular childish outbursts, but more channeled towards rectifying a situation are not just good, but desirable. Suppression of anger can lead to bottling of anger inside a person which has hugely detrimental effects on a person’s physical and mental health.