The National Institute of Health estimates that there are 19 million
Americans with anxiety disorders, 22 million with depression, and that one
in five people can expect to be depressed at some time in their lives. Of
these millions of people, some are likely to be your friends, your family,
your coworkers, or your customers.
Anger is harder to track, but according to insurance company esti-
mates 2500 people in every 100,000 have been physically attacked on the
job. Two-thirds of these attacks were by customers and strangers, the rest
were by coworkers. Then there are the approximately 600,000 incidents
of domestic violence reported in an average year.
Sooner or later, somebody’s emotions will blow up in your face.
When it happens, you’d better know what to do.
In ensuing chapters I’ll share my strategies for different kinds of emo-
tional explosions so that in fact you will know what to do when you next
find yourself in the blast zone. In the section on explosions into fear, we’ll
look at techniques for dealing with panic, phobias, worry, social anxiety,
and post-traumatic flashbacks. In the section on explosions into sadness,
we’ll discuss the various kinds of depression, including bipolar disorder. In
the section on anger, we’ll look at techniques for dealing with all levels of
anger, from irritability to violence, including passive attacks by people who
don’t realize that they’re angry.
We’ll also continue the stories of Jane, Rachel, and Brandon so you
can learn more about their explosive disorders and find out how they
finally got control of their lives in therapy.
26 ❧Emotional Explosions