Chronic Anger as a disorder

Fear and anger are produced in the same small and primitive part of the brain. Anger and fear are the emotional and subjective accompaniments to the emergency "fight-flight" pattern that is hardwired into our operating system. Fear and anger are what we experience when our physical machinery is ramped up to near its maximum operating speed; our bodies are ready to fight with our full power or to run at full speed. When the situation that provokes them is no longer a threat, we can "power down" and let our bodies recover. We are not designed to run at such an overload for more than brief periods of time. In wartime, for instance, prolonged periods of fear-anger result in considerable physical and mental cost which may require years of recovery.

We have defined chronic or enduring fear as an illness. We call it "anxiety" and we treat it as an illness, with medications and with various kinds of therapy. People become physically ill with the biological consequences of constant fear; they develop high-blood pressure, stress disorders of all kinds, heart problems, and so on. We have no difficulty in recognizing chronic fear as a disorder, but somehow we don't see its complement, chronic anger, as an equally damaging illness, yet we see and feel its effects constantly.

Anger and its expression are increasingly problematic in our world. In the paper we read daily of random murders, group killings, road rage, murderous and abusive relationships, and random violence. We have "Anger Management Groups" to remind people of what they learned (or should have learned) on the grade-school playground. When our anger is turned inward on ourselves in the form of self-blame, we call it depression, and we can treat it successfully. as well.

In the United States of today, we psychologists and psychiatrists diagnose many "emotional disorders", including anxiety disorders and depression. We don't define chronic anger as an illness, though it meets exactly the same criteria as the other emotional disorders do. The only related official diagnosis is "intermittent explosive disorder", which means one or more isolated instances of a temper tantrum. I want to be very clear about this: anger/frustration and fear are normal responses to situations and as such are healthy psychologically. Chronic fear and chronic anger are maladaptive responses and respond well to competent treatment, but we only recognize chronic fear as requiring treatment.

I think we don't see chronic anger as a disorder because our entire culture is permeated with anger. It's part of the air we breathe. Our television shows are about people getting angry, doing bad things, and getting punished by angry authorities. This is as true for the news on CNN as it is on the multitude of detective and police shows. Our heroes are people who have been mistreated and who then fight back, from Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood onward. Our history began with us getting mad at the English, who mistreated us, and whom we got mad at and fought back against. We love our anger. It provides us with the energy to fight without fear, to stand up to mistreatment and refuse to cooperate with abusive people. It also results in abrasive and dangerous relationships, even to those we love, and to a large assortment of physical disorders.

Does our history and culture mean that we have to tolerate constant anger among ourselves, or to find others outside our culture to bear the brunt of our resentment? Perhaps we should consider how we would be able to function, both as individuals and as a culture, without constant anger in search of a "bad guy" to punish? Can we defend ourselves without anger? Can we stop using anger as a factor in our decision-making? In reality, we may be much more effective if our responses to frustration were rational, logical and not governed by fury.

I think we should consider chronic anger as a serious disorder and plan effective treatments.