Why anger is dangerous?

Anger is not only dangerous for the person experiencing the emotion, but it can also be dangerous to the recipient of the anger. Anger triggers the body’s ‘fight or flight response. The adrenal glands flood the body with stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. The constant flood of stress chemicals and associated metabolic changes that go with ongoing unmanaged anger can eventually cause harm to many different systems of the body. Some of the short and long-term physical health problems that have been linked to unmanaged anger include a weakened immune system, headaches, digestion problems, insomnia, high blood pressure, skin problems, heart attacks, and strokes, to name a few.

In addition, anger can be linked to crime, emotional and physical abuse, and other violent behavior.  It is also linked to mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety. If you’re a worrier, it’s important to note that anxiety and anger can go hand-in-hand. In a 2012 study published in the journal Cognitive Behavior Therapy, researchers found that anger can exacerbate symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, a condition characterized by an excessive and uncontrollable worry that interferes with a person’s daily life. Not only were higher levels of anger found in people with GAD, but hostility, along with internalized, unexpressed anger, in particular, contributed greatly to the severity of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms. Numerous studies have linked depression with aggression and angry outbursts, especially in men. In depression, passive anger is common, where you ruminate about the anger but never take action. When people internalize anger, it causes them to turn against themselves and become self-critical and self-hating. If this process reaches serious proportions, it plays a significant role in feelings of depression and worthlessness. It can lead to self-defeating, self-destructive, and at times, suicidal behaviors. Psychoanalysts have traditionally understood depression as being primarily due to anger directed against the self.

Anger is a natural and inevitable response to frustration or stress. The degree of anger is proportional to the degree of frustration experienced at the time, whether or not one’s feelings of anger are rational and appropriate to the situation or irrational and entirely inappropriate. It is beneficial to understand that anger is a healthy emotion, and it is ideal to feel the emotion fully. However, what we do with anger is what matters most.