Understanding and Transforming Anger: A Path to Emotional Healing

The Psychology of Anger
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), anger is a natural and adaptive emotion that helps individuals respond to threats and injustices. Anger often manifests with physical, cognitive, and behavioral changes, including increased heart rate, muscle tension, and a heightened state of arousal (APA, 2019). When anger is suppressed or mismanaged, it can contribute to emotional distress, strained relationships, and even physical health problems such as hypertension and weakened immune function. Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey emphasize that unresolved trauma often manifests as chronic anger because the brain’s stress response remains activated. When individuals experience neglect, abuse, or emotional suppression in childhood, their nervous system learns dysregulated patterns of coping, making anger either excessive or deeply buried.
 
Anger as a Secondary Emotion
Anger is often a protective, secondary emotion—a response that shields us from more vulnerable feelings such as fear, sadness, shame, or rejection (APA, 2019). Dr. Joe Dispenza explains that habitual emotional states, including anger, are stored neurologically and chemically in the body. If individuals do not learn to process anger, it becomes an unconscious pattern that drives reactions rather than conscious responses, for example, someone who was repeatedly dismissed as a child may develop a defensive anger pattern whenever they feel unheard as an adult.

Anger covers up more vulnerable, primary feelings such as hurt, sadness, fear, insecurity, jealousy, etc. If any of these underlying emotions are taboo, anger may become the "feeling of choice" since there is less anxiety to feel anger or is less threatening to express the anger.

The Body's Response to Anger
When anger is triggered, the body enters a stress-response mode, engaging the fight, flight, or freeze response. Physiological changes of the body's response include, increased heart rate and blood pressure, heightened adrenaline and cortisol production, tensed muscles, dilated pupils, and increased alertness. While the fight, flight and freeze responses are to protect individuals in immediate danger, chronic activation of anger-based stress responses can negatively impact mental and physical health (Suls & Bunde, 2005). Over time, individuals who suppress anger may experience chronic tension, autoimmune issues, or cardiovascular problems.

The Impact of Suppressed Anger
Louise C. Hay, author of New York Times bestselling novel, 'You Can Heal your Life', suggests that unprocessed anger can manifest as physical illness, particularly issues related to the liver, digestion, and inflammatory conditions. She describes emotions as energetic frequencies, and when anger is not expressed healthily, it stagnates, leading to resentment, hostility, or chronic stress.  When children are not taught healthy anger expression, they may either: suppress anger, leading to self-directed emotions like guilt, shame, or anxiety – or explode with anger, lacking regulation skills to manage their intense emotions. Both responses result in emotional dysregulation, reinforcing cycles of self-destructive behaviors or relational conflicts.

Transforming Anger into a Positive Force
Rather than viewing anger as purely negative, it can be a catalyst for change when processed effectively. Anger motivates boundary-setting, fuels self-advocacy, and helps individuals identify unmet needs. However, how we channel anger determines whether it is constructive or destructive.

Some examples of healthy ways to express anger are:
•. Externalizing emotions through writing, allowing reflection without confrontation
•  Engaging in mindful exercise (yoga, walking, deep breathing) to help dissipate stored anger
•. Speaking openly with a trusted person, therapist, or coach to have emotions validated and creatively
•  Expressing emotions through art, music, or poetry as a channel for emotional release. 

​Anger, when understood and processed, can lead to emotional clarity, boundary reinforcement – setting clear limits in relationships as well as self empowerment - using anger to drive positive transformation. Dr. Joe Dispenza emphasizes that we have the power to rewire our emotional responses by practicing mindfulness and self-awareness. Rather than being trapped in anger cycles, individuals can train their brains to choose responses that align with their well-being and growth.

Moving Beyond Anger to Emotional Freedom
Anger is not the opposite of love - indifference is (Hay, 1998). When held onto, anger turns into resentment and bitterness. However, when acknowledged and released, anger becomes a force for emotional healing and transformation. By understanding the root of our anger, we reclaim emotional freedom, allowing us to respond rather than react, live in the present and cultivate healthier relationships with ourselves and others.

References
American Psychological Association. (2019). Anger: How to recognize and deal with it.
American Psychological Association. (2019). Anger and aggression. APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Dispenza, J. (2017). Becoming supernatural: How common people are doing the uncommon.
Hay, L (1998). Heal your body A-Z: The mental cause for physical illness and the way to overcome them. Hay House.
Perry, B.D., & Winfrey, O. (2021). What happened to you? Conversations on trauma, resilience and healing. Flatiron Books.
Spielberger, C. D. (1999). State-trait anger expression inventory-2 (STAXI-2): Professional manual. Psychology Assessment Resources
Suls, J., & Bunde, J. (2005). Anger, anxiety and depression as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: The problems and implications of overlapping affective dispositions. Psychological Bulletin.