Anger Management and Health

Anger Management And Health


by, Danita C. McCoy
Anger Management and Conflict
Dr. Daube, Instructor

November 6, 1996

    Everybody feels anger from time to time. People have been documented
feeling anger since biblical times when God was considered angry.   Babies even
exhibit signs that are interpreted as anger, such as crying or screaming.   Anger
is not in any way unique to people.   Animals also have the   ability to feel and
express anger.

    In our personal lives we get angry over at least one thing on almost a
daily basis, whether it be on the job, with a spouse or loved one, or perhaps
with a figure of authority.   Many psychologists have written about anger,
discussing the relationship between anger and fear.   Each of the individuals
that comprise humanity possesses at least one phobia, in the same way that each
is capable of possessing anger.   The negativity that is associated with phobias
often spills over into our feelings about anger.   We begin to think negatively
about anger since we associate it with fear.

    Plato was the first to suggest that anger was a disbalance.   According to
Dr. Willard Gaylin, a prominent psychologist, anger is still seen as a
disbalance by many of today's psychologists.   Since Plato, anger has suffered a
bad reputation.   We only have to imagine a domestic abuse scene to immediately
condemn anger in all of its manifestations.

    There is a reason why anger is viewed in a negative light.   Nobody likes it
when someone is angry with them.   We tend to avoid the wrath of those around us.
This is one reason we see anger as negative.   Another reason may lie closer to
Plato's concept of imbalance.   The negative perception of anger is evident in
the American Heritage Dictionary's definitions of the word anger (1): 1.   A
feeling of extreme displeasure, hostility, indignation, or someone or something;
rage; wrath; ire. 2.   (Obsolete) Trouble; pain; affliction.

To say, "I'm getting angry", is to invoke fear in another, usually,... [continues]

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