Chronic and addictive anger is no laughing matter, even if it does seem to make you feel more in control of your environment for a short time. The operative word is “seem” because although it may feel like you’re experiencing something positive, it’s fake. We will get into greater detail further down, but first, it’s important to cover the mechanics of anger and how the brain processes this emotion, particularly when it’s developed to the point of an addictive rage.

What Does Your Brain Do with Anger?

During any given day we are bound to experience many emotions; some positive, some negative. Your brain is a very fine-tuned instrument and offers a boost of dopamine, the happy chemical, when it determines something should be repeated. Without getting into a deep chemistry lesson, you are basically tricked into thinking you want more of whatever caused the dopamine spike. Continue reading →

There are many different effects emotions have on our overall health. When we are happy, little seems to be wrong and even if we are a bit on the sick side, it plays a part in how we physically feel. If we are sad, we may feel sluggish or not up to doing much. Being worried can cause people to become depressed or afraid to do things they usually enjoyed. Emotions can have some pretty adverse effects on physical and mental health.

Because the emotion of anger is linked or co-expressed with several other emotions, it’s understandable that pinpointing a singular physical or mental health manifestation is virtually impossible. Anger is probably the hardest emotion to keep under control.

Though it can be kept under wraps without much in the way of an outward display, it can also show up in outbursts, shouting matches, and sometimes even physical altercations. Continue reading →