Consider this: There are only two situations when angry people are
likely to accept your assertion that there is something wrong with them that
requires treatment. One is if you’re completely engaged with their anger
and have enough power to force them into treatment against their will by
threatening to leave them, fire them, jail them, or beat them up. The other
is being so totally disengaged from their antics that they can believe that
your suggestion of treatment is in fact what’s best for them and not a way
of winning an argument by labeling them as mentally ill. These strategies
are mutually exclusive.The most damaging and dangerous thing you can
do is attempt them both at the same time, which is what everybody tries
until they finally realize it doesn’t work.
The Physiology of Anger
As nearly as we can tell, the physiology of anger is identical to that of fear.
The fight or flight response is the same; the only difference is the choice
of which to do. Try though they might, scientists have not been able to
discover solid evidence of a physiological basis for that choice.
It’s not as if they haven’t tried. There have been many theories, none
of which has borne out. Hormones were suspected of causing aggression
almost from the moment they were discovered. Early research suggested
that fear was caused by adrenaline by itself and that anger was provoked
by a mixture of adrenaline and noradrenaline, a similar hormone. The
idea was neat, simple, and incorrect.
Testosterone, a male hormone, is persistently cited as a cause for
anger. Everybody knows that men are more aggressive. What could be
more natural than blaming one of the bodily fluids that makes them men?
Violent criminals have higher testosterone levels than other men,
and testosterone shots tend to make people, well, testy. Unfortunately,
that’s about the only proof there is. Almost any hormonal imbalance can
cause irritability, but that doesn’t mean the converse is true.
There are also theories that implicate various areas of the brain. The
amygdala is a typical suspect, because lesions there cause uncontrollable
rage in laboratory animals. Brain scans, however, show very few differ-
ences that can distinguish one form of agitation from another.
Explosions into Anger ❧ 217