What is anger?
Anger is a feeling of displeasure or hostility. It’s a normal, healthy emotion, just like any other feeling you have. Anger has several components: • Psychological. This is the emotional component of anger, how you feel, such as sadness, disappointment or frustration. • Physiological. This is how your body responds to anger, such as developing muscle tension or an increase in heart rate and blood pressure as your body releases adrenaline – the fight-or-flight hormone. • Cognitive. This is what you think as you experience anger, such as acknowledging that it’s OK to be frustrated, or, on the other end, thinking that the world is out to get you or that your spouse “never” does what you ask. In essence, anger is a warning bell that tells you something is wrong in a situation. It’s a natural response to perceived threats.
Anger is a natural emotion that every human and many non-human animals experience. Mild forms of human anger may include displeasure, irritation or dislike. When we react to frustration, criticism or a threat, we may become angry – and usually this is a healthy response. Anger may be a secondary response to feeling sad, lonely or frightened. When anger becomes a full-blown rage our judgment and thinking can become impaired and we are more likely to do and say unreasonable and irrational things. Anger is not just a mental state of mind. It triggers an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Anger has survival benefits, and forms part of our fight or flight brain response to a perceived threat or harm. When a human or animal decides to take action to stop or confront a threat, anger usually becomes the predominant feeling and takes over our behavior, cognition and physiology. In many cases humans and non-human animals express anger by making lou
