If you frequently find yourself losing your temper you might find this leads to considerably more than the chance to let off steam. Angry outbursts can easily result in conflict with others, and can increase those conflicts that already exists. Anger leads others to evaluate you negatively and dislike you. This can affect family happiness, career prospects, and social opportunities. People tend not to like angry people too much and are less likely to invite them to social events – nobody wants to run the risk of anger ruining things. So you could find that not only are people less likely to want to see you, and if they do keep avoiding you this can lead to loneliness.
Anger can make you lash out verbally and even physically. Angry people can say and do things they later regret such as name-calling and inappropriate gesturing. And if you do come to realise that you’ve been the cause of family and interpersonal disruption you might not end up liking yourself too much
In addition, research has demonstrated that major medical problems such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer appear more often in angry people. Long-term studies show increases in death rates for people who were angry often. Put simply: angry people die earlier.
Finding yourself getting worked up often can make you feel on edge. Many make the mistake of feeling that they need to rely on drink, drugs, gambling or other bad habits to help them deal with this stress. Anger is also associated with erratic and potentially dangerous driving, property destruction, occupational dissatisfaction and maladjustment problems with colleagues, lower productivity and increased probability of job failure. Anger leads to poor decision making and inappropriate risk taking. In the long run these are self-defeating. Very strong anger can be highly disruptive, can cloud clear thinking and can lead to or become a justification for crimes of passion committed while in an insane state.
If you are having trouble with managing your own anger issues then you might benefit from psychotherapy. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been demonstrated to help alleviate anger management issues. Suitably qualified therapists are listed on the BABCP’s website.
