Anger management is a self-initiated process that aims at controlling the occurrence of the extremes of emotional outbursts. This means that for an individual to manage their anger successfully, they have to recognize first that the problem exists within himself or herself. Anger is an expression by normal individuals and can be initiated by failure to achieve life goals or may be provoked by other people including friends and family. Disappointments also yield anger. Failure to recognize and control emergence of anger management issues can lead to dire consequences such as depression and suicidal tendencies in some cases. This paper seeks to discuss the anger management issues in adults with regard to the types of anger, physical signs and symptoms of aberrant anger management and ways of controlling emotional distress in adults.
Several types of anger disorders exist among the adults. There is chronic anger, passive anger, and overwhelming anger, self-inflicted and judgmental anger. Chronic anger is that which has existed for a long length of time usually for more than six months. It may be indicative of an underlying mental ailment. If the individual persistently stays in this situation, they may suffer from a depressed immune system, which carries with it a susceptibility to infections. Chronic anger in adults is manageable by processes such as meditation, counselling, listening to music and exercises, including yoga. Adults with this type of anger are also at an increased risk of relapsing into depression, which is quite difficult to deal with Allan & McNulty, 2014).
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Passive anger occurs without conscious knowledge of its existence. More often than not, the anger is because of memories that the adult has created over the time. Effects of passive anger can be devastating since the individual may not notice of its existence. The main symptom of this is chronic fatigue of unexplained cause, anhedonia and feeling of low self-worth. Acute episodes of disappointment may trigger anger in a sense that these arouse suppressed inner feelings, which exhibits as anger. The most difficult part of this form of anger is that physicians and psychologists may fail to recognize and its precipitating factors as it occurs in the sub-conscience (Howard, 2014).
Overwhelming anger occurs as an expression of life’s burdens. It comes due to the presence of insurmountable demands for life and mostly occurs in adults with mid-life crises. Factors such as stress from family demands, work related burdens and a desire to balance all these in the presence of limitations of resources precipitates this form of anger. Mostly, overwhelming anger occurs in the setting of frustrations due to failure to accomplish life goals. Single parents are likely to suffer from this type of anger due to lack of social support and increasingly high family demands. This type of anger is different from self-inflicted anger that individuals have towards themselves because of haunting by guilt. Guilt could result from terrible past mistakes that the individual feels that they had control over at some point in time but cannot undo the effects of those mistakes. An example of such is a bad performance at work that led to termination of a job.
Anger in adults occurs due to the presence of triggers and precipitators. The leading factors that cause anger in adults in adults include psychological and physical stress, socio-economic factors, family wrangles, and excessive demands from oneself. Inbuilt genetic aberrations in neuro-receptors of the brain such as serotonin and dopamine may precipitate the exhibition of anger (Dutra, Siegle, Reeves, Mauss and Gruber, 2016). An imbalance of hormones may also cause flare-ups in anger episodes. Alcohol and substance abuse also play a significant role in expression of anger. Generally, abuse of drugs lowers anger threshold. Thus, adults with drug abuse problems are likely to show greater difficulties with their anger management.
Adults with anger management issues portray certain signs and symptoms, which require early recognition for effective management of this condition. These may include palpitations, rapid shallow breathing, headache, tearing, trembling and clenching of fists. When uncontrolled reactions due to anger may lead to violence, and self-destructive behavior. An adult may also destroy the physical structures around them including smashing of phones, television and utensils. This may manifest psychiatrically as catastrophic reaction. Chronic anger may result into a physical ailment such as hypertension and may reduce the immune competence of the individual, similar to that which occurs in depression (Howard, 2014).
Anxiety, irritability and low self-esteem are some of the emotional disturbances related to poor anger control. Anxiety can occur even with the feeling of inability to take charge of the situation. This could culminate into panic attacks as the individual notices that they have failed to control an episode of anger within them. Treatment for this can be a combination of counselling, use of mood stabilizers such as lithium or a prescription of benzodiazepines such as lorazepam.
An understanding of the condition for adults with anger management issues is an important aspect towards correction of the problem. This involves creating awareness to the individual about the existence of the condition. The primary goal should be to help such individuals is by devising ways of how well they can adapt to triggering situations. Apart from the use of medications, physical exercises and meditation can help such people to overcome anger management issues. Meditation helps in creating a feeling of self-awareness and as well facilitates relaxation. Meditation also has a link with spiritual development of individuals (Spielberger and Sarason, 2013).
Combating extreme anger in adults should occur with a clear understanding of the anger symptomatology. If one has the knowledge of what causes their emotional fare-ups and how it manifests, then they stand a better ground of determining the ways they could use to stop that. For instance, rapid breathing that occurs during anger episodes is relievable by suppression of the inspiration process and exhaling more. Chronic anger is controllable by activities that stimulate relaxation. Since one of the effects of chronic anger is somnolence, ensuring that one gets enough sleep is an important method of curtailing the symptoms. Failure of self-remedies can necessitate the involvement of professionals who may train the adult on alternative behavior. Talking about the problem lightens the weight of the anger management difficulties and encourages social support from both family, friends and workmates.
It is important to note that anger management issues may also include drug addiction in adults. Prescription drugs such as benzodiazepines may lead to tolerance and addiction, which may compound the anger management problem. Withdrawal of the same drugs after achievement of symptom control can also lead to emergence of withdrawal symptoms. All these are points of consideration during initiation and termination of medications aimed at controlling anger problems. It is also crucial not to overlook the side effects of all drugs that one is taking (Spielberger and Sarason, 2013).
In conclusion, adults with anger management issues require holistic evaluation to determine the causes of the anger problems. Involvement of the adult in devising adaptive measures and designing management plans is significant in achievement of full control of the symptoms. Social support from relatives and friends is an integral part in managing anger. The primary method of management should be through non-pharmacological methods since medications come with other issues such as addiction, dependence and many other side effects.
References
Allan, C., & McNulty, M. (2014 ). The Handbook of Adult Clinical Psychology: an Evidence Based Practice Approach. Hoboken: Tailor and Francis
Dutra, S. J., Siegle, G. J., Reeves, E. J., Mauss, I. B., & Gruber, J. (2016). Feeling without Thinking? Anger Provocation Task Predicts Impaired Cognitive Performance in Bipolar Disorder but not Major Depression or Healthy Adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 40 (2), 139-149.
Howard, K. (2014). Anger Disorders: Definition, Diagnosis and Treatment . New York, NY: Taylor and Francis
Spielberger, C. D., & Sarason, I. G. (Eds.). (2013). Stress and emotion: Anxiety, anger, & curiosity . Taylor & Francis.
