I’m reading Seneca’s work on anger where he argues against Aristotle that anger is no good, it makes you lose your mind and it should be dominated by reason.
This issue came out several times when I go to group therapy, many patients say that they don’t like anger and control it while our psychologist say that we should let it come out.
If you let it out, you just need to do it in constructive ways, not attacking other people etc
I agree with Pianogal.
It’s not always good to suppress your emotions, but it’s also not good to take them out on other people.
Healthy outlets is the key.
My therapist has said that anger is a masking emotion, usually masking fear or some other more vulnerable emotion. For me, it helps to talk about these things in therapy. It’s a safe place for me to express my anger and talk about it.
It’s necessary and healthy to express all emotions and thoughts. What’s important is to have someone to hear your problems and feelings. I am solitary, and I talk to myself
We live together as human beings, regardless of culture and race. When we are angry it just means you got some sort of selfrespect. In our community we can’t put up with all opinions. We got to draw a line. For example you want to live on beans and water. That makes you insane.
When I was growing up I had tons of anger I didn’t dare express. As a result I still can’t express anger in a healthy way even today. When I do express anger I do it badly.
Certain wise men, therefore, have claimed that anger is temporary madness.
For it is equally devoid of self- control, forgetful of decency, unmindful of ties, persistent and diligent in whatever it begins, closed to reason and counsel, excited by trifling causes, unfit to discern the right and true - the very counterpart of a ruin that is shattered in pieces where it overwhelms.
But you have only to behold the aspect of those possessed by anger to know that they are insane. For as the marks of a madman are unmistakable - a bold and threatening mien, a gloomy brow, a fierce expression, a hurried step, restless hands, an altered colour, a quick and more violent breathing - so likewise are the marks of the angry man; his eyes blaze and sparkle, his whole face is crimson with the blood that surges from the lowest depths of the heart, his lips quiver, his teeth are clenched, his hair bristles and stands on end, his breathing is forced and harsh, his joints crack from writhing, he groans and bellows, bursts out into speech with scarcely intelligible words, strikes his hands together continually, and stamps the ground with his feet; his whole body is excited and “performs great angry threats”; it is an ugly and horrible picture of distorted and swollen frenzy -you cannot tell whether this vice is more execrable or more hideous.
(…)
We shouldn’t control anger, but destroy it entirely—for what “control” is there for a thing that’s fundamentally wicked?
Seneca, De Ira
I dunno. Make a child angry by denying its wants. Its a different chapter. Thats a compliment to your chapter.
You need to be in touch with your anger and understand it but be skillful in how and when you express it. When it’s not appropriate to express it, you need to find alternative coping mechanisms. Being unable to express your anger can be a big problem too.
We have emotions for a reason, they reflect our needs and help us satisfy those needs, so suppressing them can be just as bad as expressing them immaturely. Anger usually tells you that your rights or boundaries are being ignored, and by communicating how you feel about that to others in a mature way, you can assert those rights and boundaries.
thats me.since i was younger i never learned to express anger.i bottled my anger all my life.
This is my experience too. I feel like being punished for showing dissapointment and anger as a kid has led me to be unable to express them constructivly.
This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.