Anger is a strong feeling we all have sometimes. It’s like a rainbow with different colors: there’s the big, loud anger (rage), the quiet, long-lasting anger (resentment), and the feeling that you’re right and fighting for what’s fair (righteousness).
In this post, we’ll examine these different kinds of anger and see how they affect our relationships, communities, and thoughts. Let’s go on this experience together to understand how anger shapes our lives in many different ways.
What We Know About – Anger
It is normal to feel angry since anger is a powerful emotion that can manifest in various ways. Most people see anger and perceive it as wrong; many would argue that it is incredibly destructive to oneself and those around one.
However, understanding the different types of anger can help you manage anger issues, recognize anger pattern types, identify triggers, and turn your anger style into a less destructive and hurtful form of expression.
By recognizing and understanding these different types of anger, we can build strategies to manage and express it in healthy and constructive ways.
Is Anger Good or Not?
It is difficult to say whether anger is inherently good or bad, as it depends on various factors. Anger can serve as a valuable response to perceived threats, injustices, or violations of personal boundaries.
In this sense, it can be considered a useful and adaptive emotion. When expressed constructively, anger can motivate individuals to take action, assert themselves, and address issues that require attention. It can act as a powerful motivation for positive change but can easily be affected by a person’s mood, temperament, or secondary emotion.
However, the key lies in how to express anger in a mature and controlled way. If it is impulsively expressed without control, then the emotion can lead to negative consequences, harming relationships and contributing to health problems.
Understanding the types of anger can help individuals to take control rather than let their anger control them. Blind rage and destructive anger can and will harm relationships. Silent anger or silent treatments can do nothing to alleviate the situation. Shame-based types of anger can only worsen the situation by outwardly insulting others or themselves into depression.
Learning to navigate and create change by understanding one’s anger, expressing it much healthier, and developing personalized strategies for anger management are crucial. Seeking support from online therapy or mental health professionals can be beneficial for those who find it challenging to manage their anger effectively.
Different Types of Anger
In the complex landscape of human emotions, anger is a powerful force with various manifestations. It can manifest as an instinctual response to various unhealthy ways, such as negative self-talk, intense blaming, furious shouting, and silent treatment, which all have interpersonal consequences.
1. Assertive Anger
Assertive anger refers to the expression of anger in a way that is direct, honest, and respectful. It involves clear communication of one’s feelings, emotions, needs, and boundaries without being aggressive or disrespectful.
When someone expresses assertive anger, they are open about their emotions. These anger expressions promote understanding and resolution instead of escalating and causing distress.
2. Self Abusive Anger
Self-abusive anger, also known as inward-directed anger or shame-based type anger, refers to the expression of anger turned inward toward oneself. It involves harsh self-criticism, negative self-talk, and, in extreme cases, behaviors such as substance abuse and intentional affliction of self-harm.
This type of anger can have detrimental effects on an individual’s health, with symptoms such as disordered eating, feeling hopeless, and the intentional lack of self-care.
3. Passive-Aggressive Anger
This type of anger is characterized by indirect and subtle ways of expressing hostility or resentment. It’s like a mixture of silent and verbal anger; passive-aggressive anger is more subtle in expressing anger and distaste.
These types of anger can be challenging to identify, as people with passive-aggressive anger tend to appear on the surface as non-confrontational and prefer to make passive-aggressive comments.
4. Overwhelmed Anger
Overwhelmed anger, or overwhelming anger, is an uncontrolled type of anger that occurs when the intensity of the feelings surpasses an individual’s ability to cope with or manage the emotion effectively. This is especially dangerous for older people, as it can spike their blood pressure when stressed.
This type of anger can be triggered by various traumas, challenges, or life events that build up without having a way to express it, leading people to a mixture of hopelessness and frustration.
5. Behavioral Anger
Behavioral anger refers to the outward expression through observable actions, reactions, behaviors, and other emotions. When individuals experience behavioral anger, they may exhibit a range of behaviors that can vary widely in intensity and nature.
These types of anger can include both verbal and nonverbal expressions, and they often serve as an automatic response to communication using anger as the medium.
6. Retaliatory Anger
Retaliatory anger is the specific type of anger that arises in response to perceived harm, offense, or injustice and prompts a desire to retaliate. Individuals experiencing retaliatory anger may feel compelled to “get even” against the person or source they believe has wronged them.
However, this type of anger can only be applicable in certain circumstances, as it is often driven by a desire to restore a perceived balance or justice.
7. Judgmental Anger
Judgmental anger is the constructive type of anger arising from negative judgments about others. Additionally, judgmental anger involves forming harsh opinions and expressing them in a way that deeply hurts people.
This type of anger can be directed inwardly or outwardly and is closely tied to feelings of judgment. Some consider it a form of righteous anger or justified fury.
8. Volatile Anger
Volatile anger is an intense and explosive form of anger that can quickly escalate, often leading to aggressive behavior. Individuals experiencing volatile anger may find it hard to control their emotions, causing them to act on an end with furious shouting and intense blaming.
This uncontrolled type of anger can be disruptive, presenting risks to personal well-being and deeply hurting relationships, causing distress to every person involved.
9. Verbal Anger
Verbal anger refers to the expression of anger through spoken words and communication. This type of anger involves using language to convey frustration, displeasure, or hostility. Verbal anger can range from mild expressions of irritation to more intense and aggressive forms.
This type of anger is often considered an instinctual response from individuals who have anger issues and, more often than not, will transition to verbal abuse if left unchecked.
10. Chronic Anger
Chronic anger refers to a persistent and long-term pattern of anger that extends beyond the normal and occasional experience of this emotion. Additionally, chronic anger is identified by a person’s state of irritability and frustration caused by something as simple as perceived injustice toward them.
This is one of the types of anger that can have significant negative effects on both the physical and mental health of an individual unable to keep their anger in check.
Strategies and Ways to Deal with Anger
Dealing with anger can be difficult, especially if the individual is not used to it or fails to see anything wrong with it. In reality, nothing is wrong with expressing anger or getting angry; it is a natural emotion that all of us will feel at some point in the day.
However, if you or someone you know cannot deal with the anger, leave yourselves burnt out. Here are some tips on how to deal with anger.
1. Humor and Jokes
Humor and jokes can help deal with frustration, allowing you to divert your attention away from what made you angry. Some people express anger through jokes as an innate coping mechanism. Others use humor to mask their overwhelmed anger toward loved ones.
2. Pause and Breathe
Taking several deep breaths creates a crucial pause to prevent impulsive reactions and control your feelings. It offers the opportunity to regain composure and approach the source of anger with a clearer mindset.
3. Recognize and Accept
Acknowledging anger and accepting responsibility promotes emotional intelligence, fostering self-awareness and a willingness to address the root causes of frustration. Rather than passive-aggressive anger, resorting to assertive anger expression can help mend the situation in many ways.
4. Avoid and Set Boundaries
If something causes you to be angry, avoid it as much as you can. If it is someone, set a boundary between you and that person, even if it is a family member. Change the way you want it to. Certain circumstances will push you to be distant for your own sake or others’.
5. Calm and Slowly Express It
Often, anger is impulsively expressed. It is best to calm down and slowly express or vent your frustration when this happens. Shouting and escalating the situation will not bring about the positive change you are looking for but will worsen it.
6. Seek Professional Help
Always remember that everyone is different, and every solution varies for each person. It’s important to explore and find strategies that can help make managing anger easier. Feel free to also use your strategies in anger management that do not compromise your mental and physical health.
If you find it challenging to manage anger on your own, seeking support from the right therapist and mental health professionals can provide additional tools and guidance, especially for the more dangerous types of anger, such as destructive anger, chronic anger, self-abusive anger, and overwhelming anger, or overwhelming anger
Conclusion
Common beliefs about anger are often misguided. Recognizing the many forms of familiar and unfamiliar anger empowers you to manage it effectively.
Effective anger management is crucial for mental health. Stress-relieving activities, setting boundaries, and seeking professional help are all valuable tools. However, anger isn’t inherently negative.
While some anger expressions, like passive-aggressive tendencies, hinder open communication, destructive anger is even more concerning. It manifests as volatile outbursts, often involving verbal aggression, property damage, and potentially self-harm.
Fortunately, anger can also be constructive. Retaliatory anger allows you to voice concerns and avoid being taken advantage of. Assertive anger achieves the same goal but in a more respectful and understanding manner.
Unlock the keys to managing stress by understanding the diverse shades of anger. Check out our 5-Minute Meditation to Diffuse Holiday Stress and start your journey to a calmer, more balanced life today.
Rick Kaselj MS, is a leading kinesiologist and injury specialist as well as co-creator of the best-selling Unlock Your Hip Flexors program. Rick creates exercise programs that help people heal injuries and eliminate pain, so they can go back to living a full, active, healthy life.
