SYMPTOM OF UNCONTROLLED RAGE

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The article is devoted to one of the most unexplored topics - the growing tendency of the behavior of aggression (uncontrollable anger). The authors describe the multifaceted nature of the causes of the anger reaction

The data of psychological studies of personality with uncontrollable anger are presented. It is shown that among the reasons for the behavior of anger, the most important are psychological. Timely identification of the psychological characteristics of a person with a symptom of uncontrollable anger, helps specialists in the implementation of the client's tasks; in the development of programs of psychological assistance and psychotherapy.

One of the symptoms of poorly analyzed mental conditions, which can lead to serious consequences, is uncontrollable rage. Assessment and analysis of this condition is of great importance, since the emergence of rage can lead to serious consequences [2, 3].

There are individuals who are prone to rage in a wide variety of situations where a variety of triggers cause rage, traumatizing the client.

Let's give an example. A few years ago, a woman, Ph. D., biologist, middle-aged, married, with a daughter, takes a job at a university in a small American town in Texas, transferring from another university due to the fact that she has developed a new device for tissue analysis, further research which she wanted to continue at a new place of work. Having received a position that allows for a number of years not to submit documents for re-election by competition, she starts working at the university. A difficult situation is developing, characterized by the fact that, on the one hand, her boss is a professor, the head of the department, realizing that she is a talented employee, constantly supports her, and, on the other, this woman has constant conflicts with students who complain to the management to her rudeness, aggression and constant insults.

At the same time, a minority of students defend her, considering her a capable and extraordinary teacher. As student complaints become more and more frequent, at the meeting of the administration a decision is made to give her the opportunity to complete the last semester and not to renew the contract with her further. At the end of the semester, she is invited to the last meeting of the administration, without informing about the reason for the upcoming meeting. She is brought to work by her husband, with whom she makes an appointment after the meeting. When the management informed her of her decision, she pulled out a pistol from her purse, killed the rector with a shot from it, and calmly, as if nothing had happened, went to meet with her husband. An analysis of the details of her life revealed that many years ago she shot her own son with a gun, which his father had recently bought for hunting. After the committed action, she ran out of the house with the same gun, shouting that someone was following her and was going to kill her. A criminal case was not opened in connection with the murder of his son, since both the husband and mother reported that it was an unintentional act during which she accidentally pulled the trigger. The police did not want to leave this case unattended, but since relatives and close women were against bringing her to justice, the murder was regarded as an accidental domestic incident.

Further study of the anamnesis showed that when she worked at the university in her former place of residence, a competition for a grant was announced there. Despite the presence of several applicants, the woman was absolutely sure that she would take first place. However, the opposite happened. The grant was won by her colleague. In response, the woman accused the management of injustice, and the employee of incompetence. Having met her in a cafe, she went up to her colleague, and, insulting her, struck her quite hard in the face. This time, the culprit of the incident received a suspended sentence.

In the course of further investigation, it was revealed that she was characterized by constant bouts of rage. It was established that immediately before the death of their son, a conflict occurred between them, in which the son touched her "to the living", hurting her pride.

An analysis of these three cases (a rude attitude towards students, a blow to the face of a university employee in a cafe, and, finally, the shooting of the rector) made it possible to establish that this woman's uncontrollable rage arose when her self-esteem and her narcissistic complex were offended.

As a result of such an emotional outburst, she could kill even a loved one. This example allows us to conclude that the onset of attacks of uncontrollable rage must be prevented, otherwise difficult-to-predict consequences may arise.

It is of interest to analyze the cases of unexpected serious crimes that are committed by people who are outwardly restrained, reasonable, calm, loving order and certainty, emphasizing, directly or indirectly, their morality and law-abidingness. And it is against such a “favorable” background that such persons are capable of committing serious crimes.

At first glance, the reasons for such murders are completely incomprehensible to others. However, the analysis of cases shows that at the moment of seemingly complete well-being in persons who have committed unexpectedly serious crimes, the narcissistic complex in their personality is activated, which painfully and destructively reacts to any pretext that affects its main structure.

In such cases, a trigger is always identified, which may be invisible and insignificant to others, but for the owner of a narcissistic radical, it has colossal irrational significance and destructive and traumatic consequences. Rage can arise as a result of the accumulation of previous traumas that accumulate in the unconscious, layering on top of each other.

When the last drop effect occurs, an explosion occurs. The practice of helping such people shows that, firstly, there are persons prone to the accumulation of negative energy of micro and macrotraumas, and, secondly, rage is the last link in a wide range of negative feelings and emotions included, from our point of view, in such multicomponent emotion, like anger (Figure 1). Our opinion is confirmed by practice, and the fact that in English the terms "anger" and "rage" are denoted by the same word "anger".

Rage is considered to be intense anger that manifests itself as unrestrained aggressive behavior. Rage can be constructive (when fiercely, with anger they defend their point of view in a heated dispute) and destructive (expressed in violence, cruelty).

In a moment of rage, the amount of psychic energy and the level of arousal are so great that a person feels that he will literally tear him apart if he does not get rid of negative emotions and show them. There is a tendency to impulsive actions, a desire to attack the source of anger or show aggression.

According to P. Kutter (2004), anger and hostility can develop into anger, in which "the blood boils in the veins." An enraged, furious person loses his temper with a readiness to fall on any obstacle that gets in the way. The author highlights constructive and destructive rage. "Righteous", "noble" rage helps in the struggle to achieve the goal. "Passionate" rage is characteristic of people who are passionately carried away by some business, who do not want to yield to anyone or anything, and who fiercely defend their offspring. Destructive rage manifests itself in violence, cruel acts, torture and murder [5].

The success of psychotherapy for rage and anger depends on the ability to analyze these phenomena. An attempt to place the ways of manifestation of anger on a conditional horizontal scale made it possible to single out two opposite poles of responding to anger, which are associated with high and low levels of its manifestation:

one. With the complete suppression of anger (rage), a person is outwardly calm, balanced, his behavior does not irritate anyone because he does not express his displeasure in any way.

2. In the case of a high level of manifestation of aggression, the person “starts up with a half-turn”, quickly gives out a reaction of anger with gestures, facial expressions, shouts, etc.

Both of these extremes are very unattractive, the truth, as you know, is in the middle of this conventional scale and manifests itself as assertive behavior (the ability to satisfy one's needs without harming others).

I. Guberman justly wrote about the need to keep this swing in balance, talentedly noting that:

In a good argument, it is equally pity for the fool and the sage, Since truth is like a stick, it always has two ends.

Hence the importance of being able to balance manifestations of anger, controlling your feelings, and being able to be different in different situations. It is necessary to study how and in what situations the client is most often angry and "frustrated". It is important to diagnose his irrational beliefs and values, to realize how much he agrees with them, since beliefs are a very stable, rigid and conservative structure, which is practically not realized and is not questioned. At the slightest attempt to change them, there is fierce resistance.

There are ways of expressing anger, varying in intensity and degree of manifestation. The lower the intensity of this feeling, the longer the time of its experience.

Let us graphically represent the structural components of the manifestation of anger and consider them in more detail (Figure 1).

1. Discontent - the most weakly expressed and long-lasting version of anger expression, which may not be realized (I feel, but I am not aware). If anger does not manifest itself at the level of discontent, physical and psychological discomfort arises, accompanied by negative experiences that transform (at least) into resentment.

2. Resentment - a higher intensity feeling that can last for years. As a rule, only children openly express resentment.

According to Bleuler (1929), resentment manifests itself in ontogenesis in children aged 5-11 months. It arises as an emotional reaction to undeserved humiliation and unfair treatment, offending self-esteem [1].

Resentment as a reaction to failure easily occurs in children with high self-esteem and level of aspirations (Neimark M. S., 1961). It manifests itself as mental pain and grief, can remain hidden and either gradually passes, or leads to the development of a plan for revenge on the offender. It can be experienced acutely in the form of anger and transform into aggressive actions [6].

3. When annoyance visible reactions, especially non-verbal ones, are added to the experienced state: sharpness of movements, a high voice, vegetation (for example, slamming the door in case of dissatisfaction).

4. Outrage, indignation - feelings of shorter duration. Their intensity is higher. At this stage, expressions of anger are added to non-verbal manifestations (verbalization of feelings begins).

5. Anger - the body begins to "demand its own", there is a desire to hit, throw, push, hit. The control of consciousness is still great, but a person begins to go beyond what is permitted.

6. Rage - a short-term feeling with great destructive power. The energy mobilization and excitement is so great that there is a feeling of a possible "explosion" if "the valve is not opened and the steam is not released." There is a tendency to impulsive actions, a readiness to attack the source of anger or to show aggression in a verbal form. According to our observations, the experience of rage is present in the life experience of any person. Most people, having reached this state at least once, are so scared of the consequences that subsequently they refuse any manifestations of anger at all.

Thus, the process of transformation of manifestations of anger, different in intensity and duration, can be represented as a chain: we do not notice discontent, we do not show offense, we restrain indignation, anger, we accumulate aggression, we show aggression in the form of anger and rage with destructive and destructive consequences.

Expressing anger can range from socially unacceptable (for example, shooting the abuser) to socially acceptable and safe. For the convenience of using them in practice, let us place the ways of expressing anger on a certain conventional ladder. On its top three steps there are socially permitted ways of expressing anger (to work out, say, show), on the rest, starting from the fourth, there are aggressive, unacceptable manifestations of aggression.

1. Work off anger. After realizing that you are angry, but not angry, find a safe place and practice this feeling using intense physical effort, walking, yelling, sex, etc.

2. Share your feelings … Explain and clarify the relationship in the form of, for example, the following phrases: "… you know that it makes me angry," or "when you are silent, I start to get angry."

3. "Pat on" your face and express your feelings (for example, a state of irritation) with the help of facial expressions, gestures, demonstrating their displeasure.

4. Ignore (refuse to talk to the offender, answer his questions, etc.).

5. Take revenge … Revenge is a special form of hostile aggressiveness, which is characterized by a delay in the direct manifestation of aggression. Its goal is to repay the hurt, suffering. It is often done unconsciously, at the moment of the offender's weakness. It is actualized suddenly, by chance, is not realized and is verbalized by the phrase “it happened so”.

For example, a vegetarian husband is returning from a business trip. The wife, constantly talking about her love for him, buys and prepares meat for dinner on the day of her husband's arrival, thereby expressing the true negative attitude towards him hidden in the unconscious [4].

6. Gossip - a relatively safe form of manifestation of anger, allowing you to "drain" negative energy so that it does not accumulate and is not directed in an undesirable direction. The urge to gossip from time to time is common to many people. However, it must be understood that the transformation of negative energy into gossip can subsequently sublimate into conflict.

7. The most socially unacceptable ways of manifesting anger is rage in the form of insults, blows, murders.

As you know, the accumulated and unprocessed anger and irritation may not be realized and in the future manifest itself as bodily and psychosomatic symptoms.

In order to prevent such consequences in the process of psychotherapy, it is important to teach the client the ability to:

1. Notice and show discontent as soon as it appeared (Figure 1) in order to release tension and prevent the transformation of the first level of anger (discontent) into the fifth (anger) and sixth (rage).

2. Be aware of situations that cause anger and prevent their occurrence.

3. Learn to accept life as it is, and acknowledge the existence of injustice in it.

4. Learn to seek a compromise, conduct a dialogue, be able to look at the situation from the outside.

5. In the absence of an opportunity to resolve the situation, be able to get away from it, guided by the principle "the best fight is the one that did not exist"; look for other ways to solve the problem; transform anger into action.

6. Do not clarify the relationship at the height of anger. It is impossible to be angry, angry and at the same time think rationally. Arguments during a quarrel are not accepted. Give an opportunity to “die down the emotional storm, let off steam,” and only then clarify the situation. Make complaints not about the personality of your partner, but about his behavior, events, mistakes in understanding.

7. Anger does not need to be hidden, it must find congruent expression in socially acceptable ways, without aggressive manifestations.

eight. Avoid excessive apologies for feelings and generalizations (in general, always, never, etc.), constantly reviving in memory the rational judgment "I have the right to experience any feelings", "I give myself the right to make mistakes."

9. Accurately describe your own perception of the situation, circumstances, words that caused anger, while recognizing the right of the interlocutor to oppose your own perception to your attitude.

Practice shows that the success of psychotherapy of anger and rage depends on taking into account the psychogenesis of these states, the reasons for their appearance, options for inadequate response and knowledge about socially acceptable ways of expressing them, different in intensity and degree of manifestation.

Bibliography:

1. Bleuler E. Affectivity, suggestibility and paranoia. Odessa, 1929.

2. Dmitrieva N. V. Psychological factors in the transformation of personality identity. Abstract of a dissertation for a degree in thesis. degree of Doctor of Psychology. Novosibirsk. Publishing house of NGPU. 1996.38 p.

3. Korolenko Ts. P., Dmitrieva N. V. Homo Postmodernicus. Psychological and mental disorders of the postmodern world / monograph /. Novosibirsk: publishing house of NSPU, 2009.230 p.

4. Korolenko Ts. P., Dmitrieva N. V. Sexuality in the postmodern world / monograph /. M.: Academic project; Culture, 2011.406 p.

5. Cutter P. Love, hatred, envy, jealousy. Psychoanalysis of passions. Translated from German by S. S. Pankov. SPb.: B. S. K., 2004.115 s.

6. Neimark M. S. Psychological analysis of the emotional reactions of schoolchildren to difficulties in work // Questions of the psychology of the student's personality. M., 1961.

Information about the authors:

Dmitrieva Natalya Vitalievna - Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the St. Petersburg State Institute of Psychology and Social Work

Korolenko Caesar Petrovich - Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor of Novosibirsk State Medical University