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When Anger Becomes Addictive: Are You A 'Rageaholic', And What Anger Management Strategies Can Help?

by — 2019-11-09 in Addiction & Recovery
Nope, "anger addiction" isn't a diagnosis, and no serious research has been devoted to this concept, either. There is, nonetheless, no doubt that anger can become deeply problematic. What can you do to turn things around?

Let's make one thing clear right away — although this piece of writing is far from the only one about "rageaholism" floating about on the internet, anger addiction doesn't exist as a diagnostic category anywhere, and no serious research has been conducted on the topic either. Despite those significant facts, there's little question that anger can become a cycle or that it can create a kind of "buzz" that can, at least for a time, be one of the only things that "feeds" a person. 

Though there is — at the very least officially — no such thing as an anger addiction, the term "chronic anger", which does show up in research here and there, comes fairly close. Trauma survivors with PTSD are especially known for this kind of anger, but it can strike anyone who's under a lot of stress. 

Situations in which we're feeling vulnerable, threatened, treated unfairly, victimized, shamed, ignored, violated, powerless, or overstimulated, are particularly likely to make humans rage. In some cases, anger turns into an unhealthy coping mechanism that masks even more unpleasant emotions — fear, guilt, shame, or deep sadness, for instance. 

Interestingly, different styles of anger have also been identified:

  • The aggressive style is one we'll all be familiar with. 
  • Passive aggression is a style in which a person makes their anger known in more covert ways, if the recipients are paying any attention, of course. 
  • A passive anger style is one in which the person buries their anger inside, not showing it to others. (Until, perhaps, they eventually "snap".)
  • The final anger style is the assertive one, considered to be healthiest. An assertive person will take steps to control how they externalize their emotions but is nonetheless committed to communicating their needs and emotions.

Can anger become an addiction?

Let's take a look at the American Society of Addiction Medicine's definition of addiction. It begins with noting that addiction is a serious chronic disease, often characterized by periods of relapse and remission, in which the brain processes related to memory, reward, and motivation are altered. 

Yes, addiction:

  • Causes the addict to greatly struggle with abstaining from the substance or behavior they're addicted to. 
  • Causes the addict to lose control over their behavior. 
  • Leads to both problems with behavior and relationships with other people, and a reduced ability to acknowledge that those problems exist. 
  • Always leaves the person at risk of relapsing — returning to the substance or behavior even when they don't want to. 
  • Robs the person of a lot of quality time they could have spent otherwise engaged. 
  • Has a negative impact on the addict's physical and mental health. 
  • Can cause relapse when certain environmental factors are present, for instance stress.
It's not difficult to see how chronic anger can do all these things. That doesn't, in itself, make it an "addiction", though.

As a person who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and who is readily willing to admit they used to struggle with chronic anger, I can also identify some key differences between being chronic anger and addiction. I, at least, wasn't preoccupied with anger when I wasn't feeling angry — something that is a key characteristic of addiction. When I wasn't feeling angry, I simply felt numb (AKA "nothing much"). I wasn't trying to get my next hit; the anger was just there.

My anger also had a clearly identifiable cause, and one of the diagnostic criteria for different types of addictions is that the symptoms shouldn't better be explained by another diagnosis. (For instance, compulsive gambling in bipolar folks during a manic episode won't yield a diagnosis of gambling addiction — rather, this behavior is covered by their pre-existing diagnosis. My anger was part of the symptomatic picture of PTSD.)

Whether or not you personally feel comfortable referring to anger as an addiction, there's no doubt that it can be deeply problematic. Chronic anger or aggression is also, unquestionably, related to clinically established addictions.  

How anger is related to addictions

Research has uncovered some interesting facts:

  • People who are chronically angry are more likely to abuse substances such as drugs and alcohol. 
  • Gambling addicts, too, are more inclined to chronic anger.
  • Alcoholics with suppressed anger issues are at risk of becoming violent and aggressive when drinking more. 

My personal theory is that some of the same issues that cause anger and anger-management struggles — stress and trauma come to mind, again, along with anxiety and other kinds of unhappiness a person feels powerless to do anything about — also increase the risk that a person will (as a conscious choice or otherwise) seek to self-medicate with addictive substances or behaviors. 

Effective anger-management strategies: How can you stop being so angry?

Some tools that have been identified as potentially helpful in learning to manage your anger include:

  • Reducing stress levels and coping with existing stress in healthier ways.
  • Shifting the focus from things beyond your control to things you can indeed change.
  • Not bottling emotions up, but addressing them in healthy, assertive ways — speaking up for yourself and your needs in a firm but respectful manner.
  • Engaging in (more) physical exercise.
  • Trying to see other people's perspectives.
  • Avoiding situations or people that trigger your anger.

When I was in the throws of my PSTD-induced anger — OK, yes, often outright rage — I was cognitively aware of my problems, but I couldn't snap out of it no matter how much I wanted to. (Yes, there are parallels with addiction there!) Therefore, none of the strategies above could have helped, though I would have recognized them as logical. 

Instead, I sought talk therapy. It was a long and painful process, but therapy helped me process trauma that had been with me for a very long time. Gradually, the thunder clouds began to lift. Deep sadness, the prime emotion I was using anger to mask, emerged first. Others followed, both negative — fear, guilt, shame, anxiety, and so on — and positive. At some random point, I realized I was no longer angry all the time, and my way of viewing the world and interacting with the people around me had changed. Occasional rays of happiness began to shine. 

Anger management classes would not have helped, because addressing my anger required processing the underlying cause, and doing that sent it packing. 

I'd warmly recommend that anyone who recognizes themselves here takes the same step by giving psychotherapy an honest go. It won't be quick or painless, but it sure can be effective. 

Sources & Links

  • Photo courtesy of SteadyHealth

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