Why is everyone so angry lately?
The shooting of a U.S. congressman this summer by a man described as “always angry” reminded Americans that while anger is a biological necessity, it can rapidly morph from a life-preserving force to a deadly one. On the streets of Lagos and its environs, it is common thing to hear swearing and cursing, fighting between conductor, drivers and the entire populace is in a fighting mode waiting to be activated by any slight push.
Unrestrained anger causes some to murder people they profess to love, such as the Draper man who shot Memorez Rackley and her son. It compels people to set police cars on fire, to chase drivers who accidentally cut them off in traffic, and to pelt store clerks with avocados. It causes politicians to body slam reporters, as happened in Montana in May in America
And it’s anger, not religion or politics, that is the root cause of terrorism across the globe, says one neuroscientist who has studied why anger causes people to become violent.
“It’s a huge problem, and it’s a growing problem,” said R. Douglas Fields of Bethesda, Maryland, author of “Why We Snap, Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain.”
In a survey conducted by Esquire and NBC News last year, roughly half of Americans said they’re angrier than they used to be, and nearly 7 out of 10 said they’re angered by something in the news at least once a day. The National Institutes of Health says more than 16 million Americans have a condition called intermittent explosive disorder, in which people get angry out of proportion with the circumstance.
And Americans now have a president who seems perpetually mad. As a candidate, Donald Trump said he was happy to wear a “mantle of anger,” which he recently wore when he said he will be “very angry” if Congress doesn’t repeal the Affordable Care Act.
In the short term, anger can provide energy and clarity of purpose. Cloaking oneself in anger, however, is a bad idea for anyone seeking to live long and prosper.
In a fraction of a second, a flash of anger causes physiological changes that negatively affect blood pressure, heart rate and digestion, and chronic anger is associated with heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems, according to research published in the medical journal Circulation.
Persistent anger can destroy marriages and friendships, threaten employment and erode our capacity to engage in the reasoned, thoughtful arguments on which our democracy depends. It’s a three-pronged problem with spiritual, mental and physical components.
So what are practical and lasting solutions to our national case of intermittent explosive disorder? Like anger itself, they begin in the brain.
Why we get angry
Anger begins with a threat, real or imagined, that is detected by a part of the brain called the amygdala. Only about a half-inch long, the amygdala is on high alert even when we’re busy or distracted, and it’s so sensitive that even a picture of person who is frowning can set off a chain of reactions designed to protect us and our families from harm.
Credit: deseretnews.com
