When anxiety and anger control our mind

There are times when anxiety and anger come together within us in a convulsive, annoying and even self-destructive way.. We are faced with two emotional realities that often coexist together, although it is usually the anger contained and repressed for months or years that causes us, sooner or later, to let ourselves be carried away by the drift of anxiety disorders.

It is common that the origin of these complex dimensions lies in our inefficient ability to manage emotions. We say it very often, we insist on it constantly, but this matter continues to be our pending issue.

After all, No one has ever explained to us what to do with frustration, with contradiction, with fear. or the itch of that anger that arises in more than one everyday situation.

So, and just as a simple example, The link between anxiety and anger appears regularly in work contexts. Enduring complex working conditions for a long time, in the midst of a harassing climate and with an excessive burden of responsibilities usually generates a convulsive emotional state in which many sensations, thoughts, feelings…

To the obvious anger at feeling manipulated or even exploited at work, exhaustion and helplessness are added.. This time bomb often leads to more than one psychological disorder, anxiety being the most recurrent. Let us therefore learn more aspects about this topic.

Anxiety and anger, those great unknowns

Anger is a multifaceted emotion. It arises when we experience a feeling of threat, but, in turn, it is inoculated into our mind through a series of cognitions (thoughts) such as “They are offending me, they are attacking my rights, they have deceived me, they are manipulating me, an injustice is being committed…”

Now, as we already know, This type of emotional state sometimes leads to violent behavior. However, and here comes the most interesting thing, in many people in whom anxiety and anger come together, this does not happen. In them, on average, another emotion is intertwined: sadness.

An example. In a study carried out at the University of Pennsylvania, by Dr. Lucía Wals, they discovered the same thing.

The research focused on a group of young people diagnosed with anxiety and depression disorders. Something that could be seen is that, often, Behind the origin of these conditions there was often a latent anger that had been maintained for a long time, where sadness and a clear helplessness also appeared..

This caused, among other things, patients to abandon treatments prematurely. On the other hand, there is another fact that we must consider and that is pointed out to us in another study carried out in the Department of Psychology at the University of Colorado.

According to this work, anxiety and The anger that we maintain for months and years and that we do not face leads to a weakening of the immune system. In addition, there is a greater risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

However, How are these two dimensions related? How can we go from a state of anger, rage or disappointment to suffering from anxiety? These would be the causes.

We act as if certain situations don’t bother us

Living in complex family situations, spending years in a harassing job... We could give several examples of situations in which we feel violated, attacked, undervalued. All of this generates a mixture in which rage, anger, sadness and disappointment oscillate.

Now, something common that is often done is to try to reduce its impact by telling ourselves “It is what it is, I must endure this».

When we narrow down options and assume there is no way out, we give up. And that surrender becomes emotions that we silence and swallow. Sooner or later, this hidden emotional emergence ends up manifesting itself in the form of anxiety.

Fear of reacting

Those who live for months or years with anxiety and anger have fear as their main enemy.. It is he who stops our ability to react, to say enough, to use assertiveness or even to open the door to other options.

The fear of what might happen, what others will say, or the anguish of whether or not we will be able to face the consequences of our actions. It is what causes us to remain immersed in situations that generate suffering.

How to reduce the impact of anger to avoid anxiety states

There is no single strategy to reduce the impact of anger; There are actually multiple tools. Now, the most important thing is to prevent it from becoming chronic. We must, above all, understand that emotion, channel it and use its impulse.

Because even though we have always conceived this psychological reality as something negative, it contains a positive purpose that deserves to be taken into account.

Anger, unlike other emotions, invites action. What he wants from us is for us to react and to do so in the most accurate and appropriate way possible. Only in this way do we regain homeostasis and only in this way do we improve our reality. Therefore, it does not hurt to reflect on these data.

Keys to managing anger

Learn to feel anger. Sometimes, it is necessary to calmly and courageously listen to those uncomfortable emotions to know what they want to tell us. Nothing else is necessary, just connect with ourselves. Remember above all, that it is not a bad emotion, it is a threshold that you must cross to know yourself better.After connecting with your emotions, it is time to make a decision. What should I do? Do I confront or walk away? Do I react or distance myself from that situation that threatens or hurts me?Don’t leave for tomorrow the emotion you feel today. Look for a solution to that discomfort, that pain, that internal turmoil. Prevent this discomfort from lasting with an appropriate solution.Finally, evaluate the result. Is it necessary to do anything else?

In conclusion. Since we already know the link between anxiety and anger, it is time to keep this information in mind. At some point, we all go through times with these tints, with these complexities where emotions are always on the surface. Let’s handle these situations better and come out of them unscathed.

You might be interested…