Anger Managment And Health Essay Research Paper — страница 3

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them consciously. Dr. Weisinger also recommends that people outthink anger by watching our for it. Otherwise, we will blow up anger in our own mind, magnifying the significance of negative events. This can lead to misdirected anger. For many individuals, anger is a particularly strong influence, and it is difficult to control it even when it is conscious anger. If any form of relaxation doesn?t work, they should try removing themselves from the stressful situation before they get an adrenaline rush or their heart beat rises. As previously stated, anger is mostly seen as an affliction rather than a remedy. But, is anger positive?: The answer to the question is a conditional yes. Indeed, anger is positive when it is used to assert oneself. When one is being threatened by an

adversary, anger can actually be useful. Our bodies are designed to make us feel bigger than life at the sign of threat or provocation. The area of the brain called the amygdala mediates anger experiences, judging events as either aversive or rewarding. A threat code triggers a two-stage fight/flight mobilization in the body. Things that affect our bodily state can make us more emotionally reactive. When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within documents a situation in which anger can be positive, the authors describe a beneficial use of anger (4): ?Iris, a middle-aged woman living in New York, heard footsteps following her as she was returning home alone. She was frightened but then she became angry at the thought of being victimized. She slowed down; when the footsteps came

nearer, she whirled around and shouted at the top of her voice, ?Get away from me you son-of-a-bitch or I?ll kill you!? The would-be attacker fled.? In this case, anger helped in the instance of physical attack. Anger can also be beneficial when one?s boundaries are violated. (2) If someone is pushing you to the limit, there must come a point in which you can assert yourself. Without such assertion, others will begin to make excessive demands on you. People that follow that pattern and constantly give into others? demands are told that they need to be more assertive. Anger fosters this self assertion and it helps us display that assertion. So it appears that we are faced with choosing between two evils. On one hand, we can lash out at the world, thereby hurting others, or we can

bottle in our anger, thereby hurting ourselves. Anger in all of its manifestations appears to be negative, with few exceptions, such as the woman that hinders an attack by using anger to scare off the attacker. Anger does deserve all of its bad reputation. Anger can be very destructive, it can lead to liver, heart and artery damage. The key to living with anger is being conscious of the anger that is within us. Without such knowledge of ourselves, our anger will remain raw and unfiltered. Wisdom lies in knowing when to deny anger and when to vent it, when to direct it, and at what target. Leaving anger alone, leaving it to smolder so to speak, is a dubious method of coping with anger. Aristotle said it best centuries ago, ?Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry

at the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not so easy.? (4) Chronic anger does lead to health problems. Not everyone suffers from anger, but for those that do, it means a multitude of emotional related illnesses. Anger is often accompanied by an imbalance of hormones, as Plato recognized, and no imbalance is healthy in the long run. With consciousness and relaxation, people may be able to achieve dominance over anger, rather than allowing it to have dominance over them. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 American Heritage Dictionary Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA 1985 2 Gaylin, Willard, M.D. The Anger Within: Anger in Modern Life. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY 1984 3 Internet Research: Coping with Anger, 1996 4

McKay, Rogers When Anger Hurts: Quieting the Storm Within. New Harbinger, Oakland, CA 1989 5 Bernstein and Rozen Dinosaur Brains: Dealing with all Those Impossible People at Work. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY 1989 6 Weisinger, Hendrie, M.D. Anger at Work: Learning the Art of Anger Management on the Job. William Morrow and Comapny, New York, NY 1995