Question:
An introduction to anger attacks
You feel trapped. Your heart begins to race, and your hands begin to sweat and
tremble. As your chest begins to hurt, you realize that you cannot take deep
breaths. You've been arguing with your spouse and as your words grow louder, you
become afraid of losing control. You can't even remember how this started, but
now you feel so overwhelmed that you want to throw something against the wall.
You've just experienced a panic attack, right? Maybe not . . .
What Is an Anger Attack?
Answer:
They typically occur in situations in which an individual feels emotionally
trapped and experiences outbursts of anger that are later described by the
patient as being uncharacteristic and inappropriate to the situation at hand.
(Fava & Rosenbaum)
Anger Attacks vs. Panic Attacks
If anger attacks and panic attacks are so similar, how do we tell the
difference? The feeling of being trapped may trigger both kinds of attacks. Both
attacks begin suddenly and feel intense. Fava and Rosenbaum point out that fear
and anxiety are not predominant symptoms in anger attacks as they are in panic
attacks. The problem is that sudden intense emotions often feel similar to one
another. How do we know which emotion is "predominant"? To understand these two
kinds of attacks further, it may help to see the symptoms of each type of
As can be seen, anger attacks contain the same symptoms as panic attacks;
however, to be an anger attack, the experience must contain additional symptoms.
By exploring feelings such as ongoing irritability and behaviors such as
directing anger towards others or throwing objects, one may gain a better
understanding of the differences between the two kinds of attacks.
http://panicdisorder.about.com/cs/pdbeyond/a/angerattacks.htm
Anger Attacks and Psychiatric Disorders
During their years of anger attack research, Fava and Rosenbaum have conducted a
number of studies on the prevalence of anger attacks in different depressive and
anxiety disorders. The main conclusion of these ongoing studies is that 30 to 40
percent of depressed people experience anger attacks. Research participants
without depressive or anxiety disorders did not experience anger attacks at all.
In a study by RA Gould, et al, slightly over 30 percent of subjects with panic
disorder experienced anger attacks. The same prevalence was found in other
anxiety disorders. The Gould study also found that anxious participants who
experienced anger attacks were also more likely to be more depressed than
anxious participants who did not experience anger attacks.
It may be concluded, then, that if you experience anger attacks you are at
greater risk of depression than people who do not experience anger attacks.
If you have an anxiety disorder, depression may complicate your recovery. It is
worthwhile to discuss your panic symptoms and/or anger experiences with your
treatment provider.
Anger attacks are treatable. Fava and Rosenbaum have focused on pharmacological
treatments for anger attacks. Luckily, these treatments, in the form of
antidepressant medications, are also often used to treat depressive and/or
anxiety disorders. If you feel you have experienced anger attacks, your current
treatment may already be helping, or you may want to discuss the Fava/Rosenbaum
research with your treatment provider. If you are in therapy, you may want to
discuss your anger experiences and what you might do to manage them and/or
resolve the issues that may be causing them. Anger Management is a feature
article that may help you consider the causes of your anger as well as find
self-help techniques for managing it.
In the long run does it matter whether or not you label your attacks as anger or
panic? Only you and your treatment provider can answer that question. However,
if anger attacks are signaling untreated depression, it can be an important step
to determine what your are experiencing.
always seen anger or fear as opposite ways of dealing with the same
disorder, sort of a fight or flight reaction to a anxiety situation,
although we didn't get into it to much my current phycolgist suggest I get
angry at having a panic situation in order to overcome the anticaptory
anxiety, I can remember doing this before but it didn't seem to work to well
for me, although I can understand certain type of people who might benifit
from doing this, for me my anger although not bad in itself but when
associated with anxiety lead to more attacks of this type
Anger, like fear and anxiety, is hard for me to deal with. Often times when I am
really angry, my anxiety soars. I`ve had some doozies of a panic attack after
getting really angry. I am not surprised that getting angry to offset
anticipatory anxiety didn`t work. Anger is an uncomfortable emotion and it can
cause symptoms similiar to anxiety.
my guess is that a shy or guiet person who doesn't have anger problem might
benifit from getting angry at anxieties to offset the fear or panic that
follows, it would have to be a controlled response to a panic situation,
like you my anger causes anxiety although I can handle it a lot better when
I am more aware of my emotions, the problem I had with controlled anger had
more to do with fighting the anxiety give a bigger life to it just, as
running away from it makes it worse
