Is Anger a Sign of Anxiety?
By: Jessica Taylor, LPC
Have you been feeling more irritable or ‘on edge’ lately? Maybe you have been snapping at the people you love or finding yourself wanting to scream at the other drivers on your way to work. This might be sign that you are experiencing some unaddressed anxiety.
What is Anxiety?
First, let’s just start with the basics about anxiety. It is totally normal to experience mild symptoms of anxiety at some point in your life. This is because anxiety goes all the way back to the start of humanity. If our ancestors didn’t have a feeling of anxiety when they saw a lion, they wouldn’t have run. And if they had not run from the lion, you and I would not be here right now. So when a stressful, or even scary, event occurs in our life, it is expected that we experience some symptoms of anxiety. The problem is when the part of our brain that is triggered when we are afraid is overactivated, and this overactivated “fear brain” negatively impacts our functioning in one or multiple important areas of life. Or in other words, when we are experiencing symptoms of anxiety too often, about things that are not a real threat and/or are completely out of our control. Anxiety can manifest as stressful thoughts that we just can’t get out of our head. Or it can be physical symptoms such as a racing heartbeat, chest pains, shakiness and sweating. Or it can be both cognitive and physical.
Why Does Anxiety Sometimes Turn into Anger?
The most common reason that anxiety is sometimes expressed as anger is because the presence of stress or anxiety has gone unaddressed. This means that the person feeling anxious, is probably using strategies to avoid dealing with their anxiety head-on. For example, smoking marijuana or binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix might feel as though it is calming you down and taking care of your symptoms of anxiety, but if you don’t actually deal with your anxiety head on, it still has to come out in some way. So sometimes this means having road rage or yelling at a person you love for something seemingly small. If you continue to use avoidance strategies, your symptoms of irritability can worsen and result in negative consequences such losing your job or relationship.
How to Deal with Anger that is a Symptom of Anxiety
The best way to really deal with anxiety and the symptoms that are associated to it, such as anger, is to talk to a therapist. Your therapist will help you uncover any past experiences that could be contributing to your anxiety. In addition, you will learn to identify triggers for your symptoms of anxiety, including anger. That way, you will know what to look out for in your daily life and already have a plan in place in case that trigger occurs. For example, if you determine that having a meeting with your boss makes you feel tense, resulting in a more aggressive communication style, you and your therapist can create a plan, that matches to your specific personality, for how to make sure that next time you are able to go into that meeting with a more helpful thought process and skills you can use in-the-moment to feel more calm and in-control.
Taking Control
For most people, anger is not a good feeling. We don’t want to hurt the people we love or jeopardize our job. It is true that a damaging expression of anger can cost us a lot of things that are important to us. But also, it just doesn’t feel good internally. When we act on our negative impulses, it can make us feel like we are out of control of our own actions. But if your anger is a symptom of anxiety, there is hope! If you get honest with yourself, and are willing to face the symptoms of anxiety that you might be currently avoiding, you will begin to feel less tense and more in control.