I’m the victim.Angry people continually ruminate about how
they’ve been hurt, abused, misused, desecrated, and insulted.
When anything new happens, they add it to the list, then
repeat the whole thing, kind of like the 12 days of Christmas.
Idiots are everywhere.Angry people have internal rules about
everything, especially driving. They delight in pointing out
infractions to their passengers, and often to other drivers. To
an angry person, the rest of the world is also pretty much
like a freeway at rush hour.
You’ll be sorry.Angry people lust after revenge. They stimulate
themselves with sensuous fantasies of sweet reprisal.
I don’t have to take this. Angry people blow small frustrations out of
proportion. Outrage to them is 11 items in the nine or less line.And, the number one hit:
Nobody loves me.Angry people only raise their voices to make
the world a better place. It never seems to work out because
you’re uncaring and insensitive.
Cognitive therapy teaches angry people to recognize these tapes and
play other, less inflammatory selections. It is simple, and incredibly effec-
tive, but only when the other therapeutic steps have been achieved.
TheGet a Load of That Moron Explosion
If you’re close to an angry person, you will undoubtedly hear many indig-
nant tapes played through the external speakers. Don’t waste your time
with lectures. You can help most by singing a soft, gentle lullaby.
Brandon pounds his hand on the steering wheel. “Can you
believe this guy in front of me? This is supposed to be the fast
lane, and right now he’s doing all of 32 miles an hour. Now 31!”
“ He looks kind of befuddled,” Brandon’s wife says quietly.
“Maybe he doesn’t know how to get where he’s going. Or maybe
there’s something wrong with his car.”
“Then he should pull off the road and get the [expletive
deleted] fixed!”
“Maybe he’s trying to find a garage.”
“What are you talking about? Are you on this guy’s side?”
“ No, sweetheart. Yours.”The Psychology of Anger ❧ 269