PSY 532: Health Psychology
February 27, 2013
Anger is an emotion that is caused by past experiences, learned behavior, or emotional problems. Anger is caused by being frustrated and rage. Anger is an emotion that can create psychology problems for adolescent and adult. There have increased in adolescent anger because of family problems, bulling, psychosocial, and other issues. Anger has causes adolescents and adults to react to violence by carrying guns, fighting, physical aggression, rape, and other violent behavior. Some adults that deal with anger have some type of psychology problems that force them into violent. For example, physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence, and child abuse is the number one cause of anger. There are different types of anger: passive aggressive, behavioral, verbal, and anger disorders. Also, anger can be diagnosed as a chemical imbalance. Not all anger is unhealthy. My research will focus on the different types of anger and the treatments that are used to help people with angry issues. Anger is a emotion that reacts to intensity, irritation, frustration, and rage which can lead to threats to ourselves, love ones, and property. Anger is a warning that something is wrong. Anger is divided into three components: 1. Physical reaction that cause a rush to our adrenaline which can increase our heart rate, blood and the tightening of muscles.2. Cognitive experience when we think something is wrong and unfair which causes an anger reaction. 3. Behavior, the way we express our anger. For example, if something happens to you where a person makes you angry, you might turn red in the face, raise your voice, or slam the door. When this happens we might change our behavior and calm down to ask for a time-out or apologize because the anger took over. Anger can be healthy. Anger can help us to stand up for ourselves but if managed the right way it become unhealthy. (Emotional Life Expression, web site, 2011). Researchers that focus on anger recognized that there is a difference between anger emotion and anger expression. Anger emotion is an inside feeling and anger expression is an outward feeling where if being anger, the anger can become hostile (Moscovitch, 2008). Panic and hostility plays an important part in anxiety disorders. Anger is defined as “a syndrome of relatively specific feelings, cognitions, and physiology reactions lined associatively with an urge to injure some target” (cited by Moscovitch, 2008). A study was done on anger and hostility among patients with panic disorders (PD), agoraphobia, anxiety disorder, and social phobia (SOC) comparing patient responses on the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire. It was founded that anxiety disorder group did not differ on the scores on anger directed to other. But, the scores on intropunitive with socially phobic individuals showed the most self-criticism and guilt (Moscovitch, 2008). The State-Trait-Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI; 1998 and 1995) is assessment of trait of anger, state anger, and three style of anger expression: anger-in (AI), anger-out (AO), and Anger-control (AC). (AI) describes a behavior of anger that is not expressed but held-in. (AO) expressed their feeling by being physical or verbal. (AC) a person is usually in control. But, when expressing anger, they will do it socially (Bongard, Martin, Seip, & AL’Absi, 2011). Spielberger in 1988 did a study on the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory which found that individuals with SOC had an increase in anger. The anger was expressed outward by an increase in anger experiences that to a poor outcome in the cognitive-behavioral group therapy. Also, research showed that patients with PD that were with or without agoraphobia had an increase in anger but decrease in emotions (Mascovitch, 2008). According to Masovitch (2008)...
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Bongard, S., Martin, NM. Selp, M., al’Absi, M. (2011). Evaluation of a domain-specific anger-expression assessment strategy, Journal of Personality Assessments, 93(1), 56-61, doi: 10.1080/00223891.2010.513705.
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