Anger is typically associated with hostile thoughts, physiological arousal, and maladaptive behaviors. Although unpleasant, it is perfectly normal to feel angry when you have been wronged or mistreated. However, when a person lacks the ability to control their anger, it is detrimental to that person and those around them, and this may cause any anger outburst to escalate into violence. These cases warrant treatment and anger management.
LIVING WITH ANGER
Personal
Impact
Individual Physical health
Constantly operating at high levels of stress and anger makes you more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, a weakened immune system, insomnia, and high blood pressure.
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What can happen to the body due to anger:
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The adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.
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The brain shunts blood away from the gut and towards the muscles, in preparation for physical exertion.
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Heart rate increases
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Blood pressure increases
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Respiration increases
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Body temperature rises
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Skin perspires
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The mind is sharpened and focused
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Headache
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Digestion problems, such as abdominal pain
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Skin problems, such as eczema
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Heart attack
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Stroke
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Mental health
Chronic anger consumes huge amounts of mental energy and clouds thinking, making it harder to concentrate or enjoy life. It can also lead to stress, depression, and other mental health problems.
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Problems that can arise because of anger:
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Insomnia
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Increased anxiety
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Depression
Social
Impact
Studies reveal that high-anger drivers engage in hostile, aggressive thinking. High-anger drivers report more judgmental and disbelieving thoughts about other drivers than low-anger drivers do. For example, they're more likely to insult other drivers or state disbelief about the way others drive. They also have more vengeful and retaliatory thoughts about other drivers, sometimes plotting ways to physically harm them.
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They take more risks on the road. High-anger drivers report more risky behavior in the prior three months than low-anger drivers do. They more often speed—usually 10 to 20 miles per hour over the speed limit—rapidly switch lanes, tailgate, and enter an intersection when a light turns red.
They get angry faster and behave more aggressively. High-anger drivers most commonly reported the following aggressive behaviors: swearing or name-calling, driving while angry, yelling at the driver or honking in anger. They were angry slightly more than two times a day and averaged just over two aggressive behaviors per day, whereas low-anger drivers were angry slightly less than once per day and averaged less than one aggressive behavior per day.
They have more accidents. In driving simulations, high-anger drivers have twice as many car accidents—either from a collision with another vehicle or an off-road crash. They also report more near-accidents and receive more speeding tickets.
They experience more trait anger, anxiety, and impulsiveness. High-anger drivers are more likely to get into a car angry, which may stem from work or home stress. They tend to express anger in more outward and less controlled ways as well as react impulsively. Anger is not a chronic experience for high-anger drivers, but something prompted by different triggers or events on the road.
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Making the roads safer
Encouragingly, a combination of cognitive and relaxation interventions has shown promise for reducing road rage among high-anger drivers. To enhance safe driving behaviors, it is important to introduce and practice relaxation interventions and cognitive restructuring, or reframing of negative events.
Relationships
Impact
Anger can cause lasting scars in the people you love most and get in the way of friendships and work relationships. Explosive anger makes it hard for others to trust you, speak honestly, or feel comfortable and is especially damaging to children. Additionally, people’s careers suffer due to anger outbursts. Constructive criticism, creative differences, and heated debate can be healthy. But lashing out only alienates your colleagues, supervisors, or clients and erodes their respect.
Physical indications
of Fight or Flight
Response
DILATED PUPILS
TREMBLING
RAPID HEARTBEAT AND BREATHING
PALE OR FLUSHED SKIN
KEY SIGNS OF ANGER
Anger can have multiple symptoms, both emotional and physical. Both these symptoms are normal but a patient with anger management issues will face these to a severe degree.
Physical:
Emotional:
· Increased blood pressure
· Increased heart rate
· Increased muscle tension
· Increased temperature
· Increased respiration rate
· Irritation
· Anxiety
· Guilt
· Resentment
· Harmful verbal
and physical behavior
MONITORING ANGER
Emotions like anger and hostility awaken the “fight or flight” response in the brain, resulting in the release of stress hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. The brain pulls the blood away from the gut and towards the muscles to prepare the body for any physical exertion.
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The individual experiencing anger gets a burst of energy, the blood vessels tighten, and the blood pressure soars. Accelerated heartbeat, increased body temperature, and respiration rate are indicative of high anger levels.
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According to research, people who are angry more often are 19% more likely to get heart disease than calmer people. Unmanaged anger and its physiological consequences are harmful to most bodily systems.
Parameters of Anger Detection
Cessabit is designed to measure three parameters:
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Heartrate – can increase by up to 50bpm and remains above 95 when the wearer is angry.
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Blood pressure – both diastolic and systolic pressure rise by around 12mm.
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Muscle tension – as neuron transmission increases during the fight or flight response, muscles throughout the body tense up.
We can use these parameters to determine whether the person is in an angry state by continuously monitoring them.