Anger is an emotion considered negative, but in fact feeling anger is related to … protecting yourself. It's easy to confuse anger with anger or rage - what is an emotion? Find out about it, find out what the psychological and somatic manifestations of anger are and learn about how to deal with anger.
Angeris one of theemotions , and these, as you know, can be different. We often adopt a tendency to distinguish good and bad emotions - the first of these groups could include, for example, joy and satisfaction, while the second could be attributed to, inter alia, aggression, rage, anger and anger.
Contents:
- Anger: what is that emotion?
- How does anger manifest?
- How to deal with anger?
Anger: what is that emotion?
The existence of such a division is basically completely natural, but in fact experts on human minds say straightforwardly: there are no good and bad emotions, because each of them appears in a person for a purpose.
Typically anger is treated as a negative emotion. In reality, however, anger is not negative at all - it usually aims to protect the person feeling it from some unpleasantness.
According to the dictionary definition, anger is dissatisfaction and a feeling of agitation that arise in a person in connection with some unpleasant, external stimulus.
In such an approach, the cause of anger may be an unfair assessment of school work, directing praise for a well-done job of a given person to a completely different person or the lack of gratitude on the part of the partner, despite putting a lot of effort into the good functioning of the relationship (e.g. quite understandable there is anger when we take a loved one to a gourmet dinner, and he or she is completely indifferent to our actions) Anger can be easily confused with other emotions - such as anger or rage. So what makes anger different from other emotional states? Basically one basic quality - anger, to a greater or lesser extent, we are able to control.
How does anger manifest?
Anger manifests itself in two ways: it has both a mental and a somatic (corporeal) component.
Manifestationsmental
In the case of the former, it is about the feeling of indignation and injustice, as well as the natural desire to counteract it - a person feeling anger usually has various thoughts in his head that are directed towards resolving his emotions.
Anger evokes opposition to other people's actions - it appears when a person has the impression that the external stimuli reaching him are aimed at hurting him in some way. It is also worth noting here that anger leads to distorted perception reality. By feeling it, we can have the impression that other people's actions and behavior are extremely unfavorable for us. It is possible, of course, that they will actually be like that, but anger significantly strengthens such feelings.
Somatic manifestations
The second component of anger are its somatic manifestations. This emotion plays a protective role, which is why it prepares the body to fight. Anger stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, the part of the autonomic nervous system that is responsible for the so-called fight-and-flight response.
Blood flow changes - it is redistributed to central organs (such as the heart and brain), and blood flow decreases in further parts of the body (including limbs). Digestive processes in the digestive tract slow down, sweating increases (especially of the hands - this is to improve their grip and easier grasping of objects), and the pupil dilates.
The secretion of stress-related hormones increases - especially adrenaline. In short, anger stimulates the body to act.
Worth knowingAnger in psychology versus anger in religion
Taking all of the above into account, it could be assumed that anger is actually beneficial - after all, it appears when a person should begin to defend himself against the external environment. In purely psychological terms (especially when it is consciously controlled) this is how anger is actually treated.
However, you can also come across a strong criticism of anger - it is treated negatively even in many different religions. Anger is criticized, among others, by Buddhism and Catholicism (the latter counts unjustified anger among the seven deadly sins).
So it is difficult to really clearly define the nature of anger - whether it is unambiguously bad, or maybe not at all. It is probably worth considering here how a given person deals with this emotion and how easy it is for him to fall intoanger.
In the end, anger is felt by each of us, some more often, others less. Those who are often angry are often perceived by those around them as difficult people in everyday life. However, you can get angry often, and the most important thing is how we act when we feel it.
How to deal with anger?
Anger does not come without a reason - it occurs because of a feeling of some kind of threat.
Some people, when they feel it, respond verbally, while others may even undertake physical actions - which solution is chosen depends primarily on the emotional intelligence of a given person and what his system is like values.
But what to do when we feel angry? Most of all, it can be beneficial to try to remain calm. As mentioned earlier, anger simply distorts reality - so take a deep breath, count to ten, and then try to respond to the stimulus that is causing your anger.
Then it is possible to look for the factor that provoked our anger. It's good to think about what triggered this emotional reaction in us - misbehavior of your partner, unfair judgment at work or whatever - and then "cool" then answer it.
Uncontrolled anger is not beneficial - it can turn into other emotions, e.g. aggression - and this may not help to solve the problems that have arisen in our lives, but only exacerbate them.
About the authorBow. Tomasz NęckiA graduate of medicine at the Medical University of Poznań. An admirer of the Polish sea (most willingly strolling along its shores with headphones in his ears), cats and books. In working with patients, he focuses on always listening to them and spending as much time as they need.