Attend Factsheet 1b:
What is Anger?
Anger is the feeling or emotion of displeasure, annoyance or even hostility. Like any emotion anger can be healthy, but if it gets out of control it can become a problem. Emotions cause our bodies to change. When angry, we feel our heart rate get faster, because our body is pumping more hormones like adrenaline to let us know when we feel frustrated.
Is aggression the same thing as anger?
Aggression is an emotion expressed externally with hostile or even violent behaviour. Anger is a more internalised emotion that is not seen or noticed by everyone. Aggression and Anger are linked together, because feelings of anger can often lead to aggressive behaviour. People can be aggressive without being angry.
Anger after a Brain Injury
Anger is one of many emotions that can be felt by not only someone after a brain injury, but also the family and carers as well. Other emotions that might be felt by someone after a brain injury are anxiety, depression, grief and loss, but anger is probably the most confusing. Anger can lead to unpredictable destructive or aggressive behaviour.
How brain injury affects emotions and behaviours
All of our emotions and behaviours are controlled by our brain, but damage to the frontal lobes and limbic system can affect that. When those parts of the brain are damaged it is likely that the person will experience sudden swings of emotion that they will not be able to control.
Things that can trigger anger
Environment can trigger anger in a person with a brain injury. Busy crowded places, where there is a lot of noise, and information to process can lead to a feeling of chaos and vulnerability for a person with a brain injury. Changes caused by brain injury can understandably trigger anger, especially when they get frustrated with difficulty with communication, memory, problem solving and personality exaggeration. Personalised interpretations of events can lead to anger especially when there is, low self-esteem, feeling that anger is in charge, loss of independence, status or even job, frustration about situation, or cause of Injury. Other causes of anger might be Physical disabilities like, loss of abilities such as hearing, taste or smell, pain and tiredness, dependence on others and the “Stigma of being different.” The last trigger of anger can be family events and effects on the family, there can be frustration or anger as roles in the family are forced to change, social networks change, because family members are less likely to be able to have time to socialise, and the family will have some grief and anger possibly directed at health professionals.
Loss of inhibition
Lots of those who have acquired a brain injury may not realise they are experiencing anger, nor the effect it has on those around them. This is possibly because, they no longer attain the ability to self-monitor or their changes in their body are too sudden and they did not have a chance to notice warning signs.
Coping with Anger after a brain injury
To understand and cope with the emotion of anger we need to understand how it can affect what we think, feel and do.
Tips for the Person with a Brain Injury
- Remove yourself from the situation; calm your body and thoughts down before dealing with the issue.
- Take time to decide if something is worth dealing with(if yes plan a calm response), or if it is worth getting angry over (if no drop it)
- Write down how you feel when you are angry
- Practise self-monitoring and noticing the warning signs of your anger
- Practise relaxation and breathing exercises to calm down.
- Distract yourself with something you enjoy doing
- Remind yourself that your skills decrease when you’re angry
- When you are angry remember who normally calms you down and think what they might say to you if they were there, or a calming place/thing e.g. music, or picture.
- Write down when these ideas have helped.
Tips for family, friends and carers
- Don’t tell them what to do or what to avoid, help them discover for themselves
- Design some experiments with them ask them to rate their anger
- When discovering a trigger help them find another way to look at the situation.
- Agree on a sign you can use when you believe that they are getting worked up.
- Busy places can be difficult, for someone with ABI if you see them getting worked up encourage them to move somewhere quieter.
- It is not always clear what is making them angry, patience and a great sense of enquiry is important.
Contact
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