Learn How to Self-Regulate Your Anger

The Complete Combatant’s Shelley Hill ran across an article dealing with the “Physiology of Anger,” at the “Mental Health” website, written by Dr. Brindusa Vanta. Shelley breaks down the article and applies it to everyday life, noting how stress escalates anger, and why you must learn to self-regulate. ~The Editors

Are you a “Hulk-smash” kind of person? Can other people see steam coming out of your ears? Have you ground down your teeth from clenching? For some personalities, getting mad is a daily occurrence. I know some of those people and sometimes I think to myself, “Why are you so angry all the time? One day it is going to get you in trouble.” Did you know that when you get angry, your brain and your body experience a number of changes? The physiological response to anger is very complicated. 

Note: Shelley Hill references this article and gleans several direct points from “Physiology of Anger,” by Dr. Brindusa Vanta, for information in this post, found at Mental Health.  

• There is no “one” hormone associated with anger but there are a few that definitely go “hand-in-hand” with anger responses. Some hormones perceive threats, some prepare our bodies for “flight or fight,” some are directly related to our blood pressures and energy levels. Some pesky hormones can even cause cortisol levels to rise, which heightens our arousals and vigils when we are mad.  
• The amygdala, an almond-shaped system in the brain, according to Dr. Vanta, is considered the “old brain” – or, the more primitive brain structure – that handles emotion. It is responsible for processing external stimuli, identifying threats and sending out an alarm for our body’s self-preservation mode to kick in. 
• The prefrontal cortex of your brain can switch off your emotions and is in charge of judgment and decision making. It is the “big dog” that can keep your rage under control. 
• Once your angry body tenses up, adrenaline and noradrenaline (some people include dopamine in anger studies) are released, and this causes an eruption of energy. This also controls your “fight-or-flight” response, flushes your face, raises your blood pressure, increases your breathing rate and last but not least, narrows your attention and locks into the person/thing causing your anger. Once that happens, every part of your being yells this word: fight! 

Now that we know what our brain is doing, let’s try to recognize the signs and symptoms of anger in ourselves and others (if applicable). 

• Tightness in your chest
• Tense muscles
• Feeling hot
• Sweating
• Shaking or trembling
• Clenching teeth/fists
• Headache
• Dizzy
• Shouting
• Physically assaulting
• Verbally abusive
• Enraged fury

SCENARIO #1

Imagine that you are the person with anger issues. Let’s look at the triggers before the event (I will mark a T by the trigger). 

You are late for a very important meeting (T) but had to stop for gas (T). You get to the pump, but the darn thing is broken (T), so you must go inside to pre-pay (T). You were going to fill up your tank, but not sure how to gage the amount needed so you will just get $30 worth of gas (T). You go inside to pay, and you hear the cashier telling the customer ahead of you that their credit card system is down (T) so you have to pay in cash. You only have $20 in cash so that will have to do (T). You are behind a dude that is buying $40 worth of lottery scratchers (T) and is still in the decision process of which scratchers he wants to buy (T). Your anger is through the roof, and no words have even been exchanged. You are hot, sweating, pacing, huffing, puffing and starting to shake. The dude in front of you can “feel” your anger and his intuition says, “Turn around.” He looks at you and says, “I’m sorry, I will move faster”. You say nasty things under your breath, which changes the dude’s mind. He is no longer “sorry” and is now on the defense. This escalates because your prefrontal cortex is NOT winning, your amygdala sends out the danger signal and the chemicals in your brain scream FIGHT! Because you were unable to self-regulate your anger, you are now in an altercation with some innocent dude just trying to get rich on lotto tickets and the cashier has called 911. The cops arrive and unfortunately, you are the aggressor, which means you are going to jail. You miss your meeting and are now at the mercy of the legal system. 

SCENARIO #2

Imagine that you are the person buying lotto scratchers. Everything is the exact same as scenario #1, but you recognize the anger issues in the person behind you. 

In fact, you can “feel” anger coming off the dude behind you and your intuition says, “Turn around.” You look at him and say, “I’m sorry, man, I will move faster.” He says nasty things under his breath, which now shows you that he is unable to self-regulate his anger, but you are. 

You move to the side and ask if the cashier can take care of him first while adding even more distance in between you and the dude. The cashier recognizes a potential problem and is able to hold your transaction so he can take care of the angry man. The dude gives you a sideways glance, steps forward, is curt and unappreciative. You keep your distance, have pepper spray pre-deployed hidden in your hand, know where the exits are and have a plan in place if things go bad. Thank goodness you were able to avoid an altercation because you are able to self-regulate your anger. 

Unmanaged Anger and What You Can Do About It

Unmanaged anger can cause headaches, insomnia, depression, anxiety and many other health problems. There are several relaxation techniques, supplements, etc., to help reduce your arousal and decrease your amygdala activity. If you are one of the personalities who gets angry daily, there are ways out there to help override your emotional reactions. For more information, and to get recommendations for dealing with anger, be sure to read the original post at Mental Health, by Dr. Vanta.

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  About Shelley Hill

  Shelley Hill wears a "bunch of hats." Her husband, Brian, named her the “Indispensable Organization Wizard” about 25 years ago and that has become her official title. Shelley is the CEO and instructor at The Complete Combatant. She is an HK Brand Ambassador, publishes regular articles in Women’s Outdoor News and Shooting Illustrated, teaches online classes, is an Active Self Protection Certified Instructor,  an Instructor Graduate of Modern Samurai Project's Red Dot Instructor program,  NRA Certified Instructor, Certified NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Refuse to be a Victim Instructor and is a Certified OC (Pepper Spray) Instructor through Chuck Haggard's Agile Training & Consulting. She is the designer and mastermind behind Image Based Decisional Drills, Smart Choices , LockedIn Grip, The Complete Combatant's annual The Mingle for professional ladies in the "firearms/self defense" industry and The Quest for red dot shooters. She is also the President of a non-profit organization called Blue Line Ponies. This 501c3 focuses on providing a retirement range for our career service horses. Shelley is also a presenter at several national conferences is a public speaker and she actually loves people. View all posts by Shelley Hill →