One may not easily relate anger with anxiety. Anxiety is often connected with fear, while fear is said to be the opposite of courage – something that people believe they need to get angry. And there are many people with anxiety who don’t get angry easily because their anxiety has made them feel helpless and powerless.
However, there are some people who experience their anxiety in a completely different form – as pure anger. And anger can actually be linked to how people respond to fear and anxiety.
Anxiety is a condition that is presented with a severe and constant stress. A person struggling with anxiety is easily irritable. The more severe their anxiety is, the angrier they are.
Anger can happen for various reasons. What’s interesting is that the anger can be the main cause of anxiety. Many people who have many angry episodes are experiencing severe anxiety because of their inability to control their rage.
What causes anger anxiety?
Anxiety by itself activates the fight or flight response in our body. It is a survival instinct. But, it becomes a problem when you become anxious for no reason and you are not able to escape from that fight or flight response. It can make you lose control over your own life.
However, the flight or flight system is not called that without a reason. When it gets activated, it makes people feel like they are suffocating, and they need to run for their lives or to fight the cause of their anxiety. And since there are no real causes for their anxiety, they choose to flee.
In others, on the other hand, the desire to fight is so strong and overwhelming that they choose to fight thus turning their anxiety into extreme anger.
There are also other potential factors and causes as well that play a central role in the anger symptoms, such as:
Irritation – Irritation is caused by anxiety. It makes people prone to experience negative emotions, including anger. People who are constantly irritated may respond to what irritates them by getting angry.
Losing control – When people feel that they are losing control they tend to get angry. Anxiety can also be defined as a loss of control. Many people with anxiety feel like they have lost the control over their lives and that makes them angry and enraged.
Passing blame – The natural response to stress, especially when it is hard to understand because it comes from anxiety, is blaming others. This way people are justifying their stress by thinking that others are guilty of making them feel that way.
Additionally, it is essential to remember that the anger can not only be a symptom of anxiety, but it can also be a cause. People experiencing anger issues usually experience anxiety because of it as they worry about their inability to control their anger outbursts.
So, how can you control your situation?
When your anxiety presents as anger, it can be extremely frustrating. It is a condition that is difficult to control and to live with, and it just can’t go away quickly. It requires spending a great amount of time, effort, and commitment to be able to control it.
You will have to learn how to control two different issues: control your anger and control your anxiety.
To control your anger, you can consider doing these things: leaving immediately the situation that made you feel angry (creating the flight instead of fight response), express your anger through journaling, close your eyes and start breathing slow.
To control your anxiety, you can implement several strategies that are proved to reduce stress, such as yoga, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation.
How do you keep your anxiety and anger in control? Share with us in the comment section.
Image: Denis Kulikov
