How Suppressing Sadness Turns To Anger
Suppressing sadness can transform into anger, a complex emotion with both constructive and harmful aspects. Stemming from perceived injustice, unchecked emotions easily transition from sadness to anger, relying on avoidance or blame as coping mechanisms.
Healthy anger expression involves open communication, setting boundaries, and expressing disappointment. Unhealthy anger expressions rooted in resentment foster destructive coping mechanisms. Anger management strategies aim to address these issues.
Anger, often viewed as a primary emotion, can be secondary, driven by judgments about primary emotions like anxiety, hurt, or sadness. The suppression of sadness, linked to loss and disappointment, results in a growing void. In instances where circumstances are uncontrollable, individuals may deflect sadness into anger, leading to aggression.
Recognizing that sadness is integral to emotional health is crucial. It’s a valid acknowledgment of what matters, offering time for healing, self-reflection, and resilience. To prevent the shift from sadness to anger, fostering emotional ties and open communication is vital. Addressing the root causes of sadness is key to maintaining emotional well-being.
So, how can you keep anger and sadness separate?
Practical Steps To Manage it
Having complete control over your emotions is not an easy task. However, in these five simple steps, you will be able to understand the root of your anger and navigate your losses.
1. Self-Awareness
Rage and anger each have triggers that make us feel restless. If we learn to recognize emotions that generate feelings of distrust, we will be better able to control our expressions. This is where self-awareness comes into the picture.
This means familiarizing yourself with how your body may react to different emotions and behaviors. Pay attention to physical sensations associated with anger. Increased heart rate, muscle tension and twitching, and shallow breathing can be an early warning sign of becoming angry. You can acknowledge the signs and divert your focus to the matter that needs addressing.
Self-awareness gives you confidence to deal with any difficult situation that is thrown at you. Next time, you will be able to deliver your opinions calmly and compassionately.
2. Identify the Underlying Sadness
As we discussed earlier, anger is more often a secondary emotion and our reaction to unfairness. Thus, knowing the emotions that led to the initial surge of rage helps you to come to terms with it.
Taking out time to understand the triggers events you from reacting impulsively again if you are put in a similar situation. This step in emotional regulation is important in breaking a pattern of repetitive negative behaviors.
3. Embrace Sadness
The most important aspect of managing anger and sadness is by embracing it. Once you have moved past the initial surge, you can tell yourself that it is okay to deal with a significant loss. This builds more compassion for yourself, and instead of focusing on anger, you gain clarity on what made you sad.
This is you building a non-judgemental space for yourself and making it easier to communicate feelings of sadness with your family.
4. Inquiry and Value Recognition
After you have cleared your head, ask yourself, what was your immediate emotional response and did you really lose something valuable? Were your values compromised or your privacy violated? Were you missing support and empathy in the situation?
You should think about what mattered to you in this situation, and what would have made it better. These values can include respect and dignity, autonomy, honesty and support from peers.
5. Cultivate Missing Values
What is the specific quality or value you want to cultivate? Understand why it is important to you and how its absence has affected your life. This means setting achievable goals that align with the intention.
Cultivating missing values can include practicing kindness, making sure you are fair in your interactions, and equally advocating for justice. This also means being gentle with yourself and practicing self-compassion during setbacks. Feel free to ask for help when you need support.
Practicing mindfulness makes you more aware of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. With daily affirmations and positive self-talk, you can reinforce your commitment to building values and remind yourself regularly of your intention to cultivate them.
6. Remain Honest
Emphasize the importance of patience and honesty throughout this process, as understanding and addressing the missing value may take time and self-reflection.
Around you, you will see role models who possess the quality or value you are looking for. Such people are the ones who lead by example. They can be genuine self-reflections for you to assess yourself and where you stand.
Being honest with your emotions allows you to talk about your issues openly. When you align your values with your actions and intentions, people find it easier to communicate with you.
You need to keep in mind that cultivating a missing value is not an overnight process, rather requires requires time to accept change. Patience is a quality that will help you go a long way in managing anger. You can stay committed to achieving value in the face of setbacks.
You might feel enraged to making rushed or impulsive decisions that may not align with your values. To prevent this from happening, periodically assess your progress and adjust your approach as needed.
Managing your emotions helps you distinguish your thoughts and feelings, and prevents sadness from turning to anger.
Dr. Carlos Todd PhD LCMHC specializes in anger management, family conflict resolution, marital and premarital conflict resolution. His extensive knowledge in the field of anger management may enable you to use his tested methods to deal with your anger issues.
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