their laws also. If you don’t, may God have mercy on your soul. Paranoids
see even less humor in their actions than do narcissists.
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER. Borderlines feel everything
more intensely than other people. They can be loving and caring, but are
so terrified of abandonment that they will lash out at you, themselves, and
anyone else in range with the barest hint of rejection.
A Few Cautions
Just because people act in the ways I’ve described, it doesn’t mean they have
personality disorders. Even if you strongly suspect that an angry person in
your life meets the diagnostic criteria, their inflammatory names should
never pass your lips, even at a relatively calm time. This is a matter of self-
preservation. Should the person look up the disorder, he or she will find a
great deal of unflattering material, and it will be as if you had written it all.
Your best bet is to suggest anger control treatment and let the therapist
handle the diagnosing.
There are other, somewhat more acceptable conditions that are also
associated with anger. Most have already been mentioned. Since person-
ality disorders are diagnosed on a separate axis, it’s possible to have one
along with any of the other disorders we’ve discussed. Again, when anger is
a symptom, it should be your focus, rather than the differential diagnosis.
Most Frequent Anger Disorders
The disorders most frequently associated with anger are substance abuse,
generalized anxiety disorder, depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic
stress disorder.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE. By far the most frequent cause for explosions into
anger is substance abuse. Alcohol, of course, is at the top of the list. Its
generalized numbing of the central nervous system beginning with the
inhibitory prefrontal lobes removes inhibitions and makes emotional over-
reactions much more likely. Even people who are relaxed and friendly
when inebriated will still have a lower threshold for anger. It also seems
that the longer people abuse alcohol, the more angry they become.
Explosions into Anger ❧ 213