When anger appears, it often feels like it came out of nowhere. However, anger is an outward expression of many emotions that are likely hiding beneath the surface, hence the iceberg analogy. Many emotions, when they finally come to the surface, manifest as anger. Anger is easy to see, but it has many causes. Anger may be fueled by different emotions at different times and is usually a combination of emotions.
Two emotions that often come to the surface as anger are:
- feelings of disappointment
- being overwhelmed
These are emotions that we often don’t acknowledge as feelings, which can lead to anger. However, when we think about how our minds and bodies connect, the fact is that physiologically we feel it in the pit of our stomach, tension in the muscles, tightness in the chest, feelings of “dread,” and that we have let ourselves and/or others down. As a result, the brain tries to override the feeling, and instead, we experience the overwhelmed feeling as “not being able to handle things,” which makes us disappointed in ourselves, which leads to frustration, which in turn leads to outbursts expressed as what we define as anger.
Generally, when we feel these emotions, they have reached a level where they have “no place to go,” so an “explosion” often results. This often has emotional, interpersonal, physical, and sometimes legal ramifications. Upon reflection, an individual can often sort out the emotions that, if allowed to grow, could result in undesirable outbursts of anger. However, if you find that you are easily frustrated by underlying emotions, and fear that they could result in anger outbursts, and you feel the need to have help to process the underlying emotions, we are here to help you find a way forward that is helpful and healthy.
Please contact us to schedule an appointment at 269-205-2402.
Daniel Youle, MA, LLC
