As an inspirational healthcare speaker, I’m regularly asked to deliver speeches exploring my method for managing anger. Purposeful anger management requires reconsidering the myths about anger you’ve taken on board and also instituting an effective biological-psychological approach.

Fact is, anger can be, on occasions, an entirely appropriate response . It’s a force that drives change (on both an individual and collective level). Anger can motivate you to take the action (even when reticent to do so) vital to generate change. So it’s completely okay (and often entirely appropriate) to feel angry. The key is to become skilled at expressing anger in a safe way.

Also, anger can be targeted inward as well as outward. This “interior” anger can negatively affect your health. There is a ton of research to indicate that poorly controlled anger has damaging biological consequences to the heart and lungs

It’s also crucial to grasp anger management from a combined biological-psychological viewpoint. As a motivational speaker for healthcare audiences, it’s clear that , for the most part, folks are oblivious of this combined approach. (Even healthcare experts, such as physicians, nurses and mental health consultants, sometimes don’t comprehend this vital concept. Which is why, in my role as a health care motivational speaker, I focus on this vital issue.)

The Biology Of Anger

As you endeavor to manage your anger, it’s crucial to comprehend that it’s triggered by a deeply ingrained biological circuit that’s much more vigorous than most people imagine. A fixed structure that came into being to protect our forebears in a significantly more perilous time and place.

A key element of your emotional brain is named the amygdala. It’s a vital element of your brain’s early-warning system. Any type of perceived risk (physically dangerous or otherwise) can activate this system. Once stimulated it generates an array of biological responses. (Each and every one of the “symptoms” of an angry state such as a rapid heartbeat, muscular tension in the shoulders, flushed face and a knot in the stomach.) Furthermore, this entire biological circuit functions below the radar of your conscious brain. (FYI: This neural pathway, vital to your appreciation of anger, was elucidated by Professor Joseph LeDoux.)

The Psychology Of Anger

Now you’ve grasped the influence of the emotional circuitry in your brain, let’s think about the (just as notable) psychological factors in the anger state. Psychological research has revealed that our self-talk is full of unhelpful stories. (When I explain these stories in my healthcare speeches, it’s apparent that people connect with them.)

One type of unhelpful story we tell ourselves starts with a specific type of question: “What if…?” As the admired therapist Aaron T. Beck has observed, one of these questions often leads to more of the same. Asking a sequence of these questions can produce a descending corkscrew, resulting in catastrophizing.

A Healthcare Speaker’s Combined Technique

What follows is the anger management strategy I teach in all my healthcare speeches; a combined biological-psychological approach. The quandary with a strict biological approach to anger management is that the unhelpful story you’re telling yourself will re-trigger the emotional brain circuit. On the other hand, trying to dispute the upsetting story you’re telling yourself is tough if you haven’t got the biological component of your fury under control.

The ideal method for managing the physiological element of your anger is to frequently run through some type of relaxation technique. Individually, I’ve found that meditation is most helpful. On a regular basis taking a few moments out of my hectic schedule (yep, it doesn’t take a ton of time) has brought about wonders. When living gets a little too stressful, it has helped me to “watch” my negative thoughts and feelings pass by without getting too caught up in them.

As regards the upsetting stories. Merely being aware of that you’re allowing yourself to get mad at a story you’re making up can be extremely potent. In addition, you can question your negative story. For instance, if you’re mired in a descending spiral of “what if” questions, think exact percentages and likelihoods. Sure, it’s vaguely possible you’ll lose your job but what’s the genuine probability (without the emotional overlay)? Or, if your stories contain lots of inaccurate absolute words like “utter,” “completely” and “never,” substitute them for softer words like “now and again”.

Bottom line: Whatever principles you elect to adopt (and healthcare speakers have a ton of them) always take a dual biological-psychological approach. This is the fundamental clue to improving your EI, including coping with your rage.

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