Is your anger helping or hindering?

Anger is an inevitable experience that will be part of our lives. It is also a reminder of what is important to us and where our boundaries lie. A crucial question to ask is whether your anger is mild, infrequent, dissipates quickly, and you can express it assertively. This means you are not accusatory and can convey your anger in a non-aggressive manner.

However, if your anger is difficult to manage, in that it is intense, occurs frequently to the point of holding grudges or physical and verbal aggression is utilised, it may be beneficial to seek professional assistance.

Dysfunction develops through consistent denial of our anger. The aim is to move with and through the emotion, rather than reactively intensifying or suppressing it, and then being able to use this emotion to give direction to one’s life.

Unacknowledged or unexplored anger begins to fester, resulting in self-deprecation and labelling the self as defective. The process of denying feelings is often unconscious and instinctive. The processing of feelings is conscious and reasoned.