Of all the sensations that make up the broad human emotional spectrum, anger is perhaps the most feared emotion.

Many associate it with violence, both physical and verbal, as well as high stress on a physiological level that can lead to heart and muscle problems and the occasional broken tooth.

Although in adequate doses, rabies is adaptive, it is true that, if it is not controlled, it can cause many problems. That is why many people, especially the most irascible, wonder… how do you manage rabies? In this article we will see some answers.

Rabies: what is it for?

Like all other emotions, anger has an adaptive function. It is an emotion that prepares us for struggle and defense, making us face injustices and predisposing us to defend ourselves. Each episode of anger can be experienced with different intensity, depending on the person’s own personality and what caused the appearance of this feeling.

Culturally, in the Western world, feelings related to anger and sadness have been seen as something negative, despite their clear evolutionary benefit. Sectors such as school, work and family have promoted the culture of ‘shutting up and putting up with it’. Keeping one’s feelings to oneself is never good, and even more so if they corrode inside you .

Sometimes, however, anger can be expressed in an abrupt and very destructive way, making the situation that gave rise to it worse and causing the person manifesting it to receive the very bad consequences of excessive anger.

How to manage anger?

Although adaptive, anger is an emotion that, if not properly managed, can have serious repercussions both on those who express it and on those around them. When it accumulates in excess, one can completely lose rationality and self-control , and say something that is not pleasant or even attack people. That is why it is important to learn how to manage it properly:

1. Accepting emotion

When you feel angry, ‘fighting’ with her is not the solution, as it contributes to making you feel more frustrated and giving more strength to this emotion.

Accepting that you are feeling anger is the first step in learning how to manage it. It is very important to understand that, as long as you are not suffering from a serious disorder, you are each responsible for your own emotions .

2. Identify who or what is being addressed

Sometimes we get angry with ourselves for having done something wrong, sometimes with others for something they have told us, and sometimes against an object.

Whatever the target of this feeling is, it is very important to know how to identify it , to understand why we are in this situation and how it relates to the fact that we have become angry.

It’s helpful to ask yourself questions like, who am I angry with, has he really done something wrong, is this worth getting angry about, can I do anything to change it, what consequences might result from showing my anger?

3. Talking about it

Rage can block us, make us unable to do things, paralyze us.

As much as you can, you can try to verbalize what you feel, especially to the person you are angry with. Try to express the emotion assertively.

Other times this is simply impossible because we are unable to articulate a single word. It is in these situations that it becomes very useful to write a letter in which we detail how we feel and what we think about the person who has upset us.

You can say anything, even use bad words, since after you have written down everything you feel and once you have calmed down, it is as simple as taking the letter and ‘breaking’ with that anger.

But we must be careful, since giving too much thought to the subject that has caused all this anger can have just the opposite effect to that of the advice given here.

4. Rage as a creative engine

Many people are only able to see the destructive side of anger, but what if we turn it into just the opposite?

Whether with markers, pencils, waxes or gouache and brushes, they all allow us to express our feelings artistically, and who knows, we may even discover a new hobby.

Although feelings such as anger, rage, and depression are usually represented in warm colors, such as red, each can be given a different color. Choose the colour that you think best suits the anger and put it on a paper or canvas .

When you’re done, ask yourself how you feel, are you still angry? have you calmed down a bit? are you better?

5. Physical exercise

Rage is an emotion that makes us feel tense, as if we were a pressure cooker at the point of bursting.

A good way to channel and release these energies is through sport, especially boxing, wrestling, taekwondo or other contact sports. Other options, also good, are strength lifting and aerobic sports, such as cycling and running .

After a good exercise session of moderate to high intensity, we will feel relaxed and calm, not wanting to start a fight with anyone, simply because there is no longer physical strength for it.

6. Yoga and mindfulness

Meditation, especially the most scientifically studied techniques such as Mindfulness, has been shown to be effective in calming the mind .

It is difficult to enter a state of deep reflection and calm when you are in the throes of anger; however, if you make an effort every day and make meditation a habit, it can lead to many improvements on a general level.

A person who does this type of activity is often much calmer and in a similar state to that which follows high intensity exercise.

Yoga also serves, and in fact, stretching the muscles and getting into postures that work on flexibility serves a similar function to that of weight lifting with respect to mood.

7. Hugs

Giving and receiving hugs can be seen as wanting to stop a bullet by putting a flower in the barrel of the gun. However, someone hugging us can be a kind of ’emotional lightning rod’ .

It is as if our ‘electricity’ is transmitted through the arms of the person who is holding us and brought to the ground to fade away as when lightning strikes the earth. It only takes a few seconds to calm down a huge rage.

8. Think before you speak

It seems obvious, but how many people, when angry, have not said or done something they shouldn’t have and then regretted it?

Thinking things through before you do them and saying them can help keep things from going too far, especially if our potential victim is going to be a loved one or a cherished object.

Taking a deep breath while reflecting on what is going to be said and done can mean a big step to, firstly, calm down and, secondly, to avoid committing something that we later feel terrible about

Bibliographic references:

  • Lee, R., Arfanakis, K., Evia, A. M., Fanning, J., Keedy, S., Coccaro, E. F. (2016) White Matter Integrity Reductions in Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Neuropsicofarmacología. DOI: 10.1038/npp.2016.74
  • Coccaro, E. F., Fitzgerald, D. A., Lee, R., McCloskey, M., Luan-Phan, M. (2016). Anomalías morfométricas frontolímbicas en el trastorno explosivo intermitente y la agresión. Psiquiatría biológica: Neurociencia cognitiva y neuroimagen; 1 (1): 32 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2015.09.006
  • Mostofsky, E., Penner, E. A., Mittleman, M. A. (2014). Los arrebatos de ira como desencadenantes de eventos cardiovasculares agudos: una revisión sistemática y meta-análisis. European Heart Journal; DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehu033