Repressed anger is anger that is not expressed or addressed at the time it arises, and can lead to mental and physical illness. People who struggle with it often have trouble managing anger in a healthy way and may fear expressing their feelings. It can lead to violent outbursts, passive-aggressive behavior, and resentment. Victims of child abuse and similar trauma learn to hide their angry feelings, even from themselves.
Psychologists usually define repressed anger as anger that is not expressed or addressed at the time it arises. In some cases, the repressed anger is not even felt as it arises, and in extreme cases, the cause of the anger itself may be eradicated from conscious memory. People may suppress their feelings of anger because they feel angry is wrong, and they may struggle with guilt over feeling the emotion. Some people, especially those with a history of trauma or abuse, may stifle feelings of anger because they felt it wasn’t safe to express those feelings at the time they originally occurred. Many psychologists believe that suppressing anger can lead to mental and physical illness and that it is therefore important to recognize this anger and deal with it.
People who struggle with repressed anger often have trouble managing anger in a healthy way. Psychologists generally think that anger can be a healthy feeling if dealt with properly. Those who repress their anger usually don’t know how to express these feelings in ways that are constructive, rather than harmful. They may fear that expressing their angry feelings will cause further conflict and harm, and thus may refrain from constructive verbal expression of these feelings.
Instead of confronting whoever caused the angry feelings, people who suppress their anger may refrain from saying anything. They may pretend not to be angry while continuing to dwell on the injustice done to them and the angry feelings they are experiencing. Repressing anger in this way can lead to violent outbursts, passive-aggressive behavior, and resentment. It can also contribute to sleep disturbances, depression, high blood pressure and cardiovascular ailments.
If the situation that has caused angry feelings is particularly severe, the person may not even realize that they are suffering from repressed anger. This is especially common among survivors of child abuse or other victimization. Expressing anger constructively in such a situation is often impossible and can make the situation more dangerous for the victim. Instead, victims of child abuse and similar trauma learn to hide their angry feelings, even from themselves.
Just because a person suppresses his anger over a specific situation doesn’t mean he will suppress all of his anger over each annoyance. If the habit of repressing angry emotions was formed early in life, however, the person may have difficulty managing anger well into adulthood. Anger that is expressed in a moment of injustice and then seems to dissipate is usually defined as normal, healthy anger. Anger that appears for no reason, or seems out of proportion to any identifiable current cause, is typically defined as repressed anger. Such anger often has its roots in past events.
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