Hyderabad: Excessive anger affects the mind and can also take a toll on physical health. Even though anger is a common human emotion, excessive anger can not just affect our social, personal and professional life, but sometimes it can also cause mental illnesses, conditions or clinical disorders.
Anger is an emotion expressed by every human being, be it a child, an adult or an elderly. There are many reasons like studies, work, relationships, physical problems and so on which can cause anger in people. Usually, people get angry, and after expressing their points or feelings, they also calm down. But sometimes some people are unable to control their anger and get angry about everything constantly, making their behavior violent. Psychologists believe that such a condition can cause problems in people. Excessive anger doesn't just affect people's personal and professional life but can make them a victim of mental disorders, or sometimes lead a person towards violence and crime.
According to the American Psychological Association, "Anger is an instinctive expression in adverse circumstances that is necessary to defend oneself against accusations or to defend one's existence." In Indian literature, anger is considered an important 'Rasa' or Emotion. But currently, problems like anger and stress are increasing in people all over the world due to different reasons, while the ability of people to control it is also being affected. Due to this the cases of anger or anger issues and clinical disorders triggered by it are increasing worldwide. It has also been confirmed in many types of research done around the world. Due to this, psychologists and sociologists from all over the world have been addressing today's era as the "Age of Anxiety".
Dr Renuka Sharma, a psychologist from Uttarakhand, explains that having severe anger issues is a big problem in itself, but several times, it can trigger some other mental illnesses and disorders or worsen the condition of a person already suffering from psychosis. She says that when anger turns into a disorder, it starts affecting our mental and physical health and can also spoil the quality of our life.
Currently, the number of victims of many such mental disorders including clinical anxiety disorder, social anxiety, phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic disorder or panic etc. is increasing, for which excessive anger is also one of the responsible factors. She explains that anger issues can affect people's professional, social and personal life, efficiency, ability to think and even their sex life. Apart from this, excessive anger can also cause the feeling of crime, violence, wrong-doing or antisocial work to arise or increase in a person.
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Dr Renuka says that anger can not just affect the mental health of a person but also their physical health. For example, the problem of high blood pressure and headaches is commonly seen in a very angry person. The possibility of heart disease, heart attack and stroke is also high in such people. Apart from this, there can also be a problem of imbalance in hormones in such people. There are many other types of physical problems which can disturb the sufferer when anger disorder is formed, some of which are as follows:
- Insomnia.
- Persistent or prolonged headache and abdominal pain.
- Feeling anxious, tense, restless and depressed.
- High blood pressure and digestive problems.
- Excessive sweating, etc.
Dr Renuka tells that people who get angry beyond limits can not only harm themselves but can also harm others because in such a state the person loses the ability to think and understand themselves, as well as control their reactions. That's why people facing this problem must take counselling and help with therapy and other treatments if needed. She further explains that, in more serious conditions, a person is provided counselling along with cognitive behavioral therapy, communication training and anger management skill development therapy. Through this, they are trained about the measures that can be taken to control their behavior and anger.
Apart from this, such people are also advised to adopt deep diaphragmatic breathing and mindfulness meditation. She says that exercise especially yoga and meditation can be very helpful in solving this problem. Apart from this, spending some time in the day doing such work which makes you happy is also very beneficial, such as following any of your hobbies, dancing, reading a book, listening to music or painting etc.
She says that in today's time, lifestyle-related problems also act as triggers for such problems. During such situations, following a disciplined lifestyle such as disciplining sleep-waking patterns and dietary habits, giving time to the family along with work and spending quality time with them can help in controlling this problem. Apart from this, writing a diary or making a journal in which all-day activities are written is also beneficial. Actually, by doing this, the person gets to know about the things and events that trigger their anger. So that they can try to keep themselves restrained in those circumstances in the ways mentioned.
She says that people constantly facing anger and restlessness should keep a stress ball with them so that whenever they are having trouble controlling their emotions, they can use it. Apart from this, watching shows that make you laugh when angry, walking, counting, breathing deeply and repeating such words in your mind that motivate you to keep your mind calm and control your anger like "Everything is fine", "It's ok", "Take it easy", "Everything will be fine", can be beneficial.
