Anger
It is not helpful to categorise feelings as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. All feelings are valid and help us to understand ourselves. This includes anger. Many see anger as undesirable and uncomfortable but anger is often a protective feeling which can be used to help motivate us and direct our energies towards constructive purposes. Anger is a normal, healthy response to a perceived threat.
Anger, like all emotions occurs on a continuum, ranging from mild irritation to intense rage. It can trigger our autonomic stress response of fight, flight, or freeze. A range of physiological responses can get activated such as increased heart rate, feeling shaky, sweaty and hot.
When anger becomes a problem
Anger can be a response to distress, trauma, unexpressed feelings, being overwhelmed, stress, intrusion of boundaries, unmet needs or grief.
While there is nothing wrong with feeling angry, for some people it can feel out of control. Equally, if left unexpressed, anger can lead to destructive thoughts or actions which can impact on life and relationships.
Obviously if we perceive threat where there is no threat, or our fight, flight or freeze response gets activated for extended periods of time we need to understand the causes, and how to cope and express ourselves differently.
Therapy can help us to understand the cause, and process situations and events in our lives in a way that gives us better coping mechanisms and insight into why we react the way we do. This work will empower you to make positive changes, creating internal stability, greater capacity for harmonious relationships, and will improve the overall quality of your life.