Recognizing Anger Signs

Before you learn the techniques to manage your emotions, you first need to learn to recognize your anger. You need answers to questions like:

• "How do I know when I am angry?"
• "What events/people/places/things make me angry?"
• "How do I react when I'm angry?"
• "How does my angry reaction affect others?"

Answering these questions takes a while. It is likely you can rattle off several things that make you angry. You might even be able to identify several signs that you exhibit when you are angry (e.g., clenched fists, etc.). These quick answers are only the beginning, however; the low hanging fruit. You will want to continually ask yourself these questions for a period of time before you can be satisfied that you are fully knowledgeable about your personal anger.

Recognizing Physiological Signs of Anger

The first step in effective anger management is to learn how to recognize when you are angry. Some angry people see their emotions as a black or white state—they are either raging mad or they are calm. In reality, anger is not black and white, but rather quite gray. Anger occurs on a continuum between rage and calm where most of the time people experience some gradation of anger between these two extremes.

The same people who tend to see anger in terms of extremes sometimes have difficulty recognizing when they are experiencing intermediate anger states. Luckily, most people experience a number of physical, emotional and behavioral cues that they can use to let them know when they are becoming upset.

Some physical signs of anger include:

• clenching your jaws or grinding your teeth
• headache
• stomach ache
• increased and rapid heart rate
• sweating, especially your palms
• feeling hot in the neck/face
• shaking or trembling
• dizziness

Emotionally you may feel:

• like you want to get away from the situation
• irritated
• sad or depressed
• guilty
• resentful
• anxious
• like striking out verbally or physically

Also, you may notice that you are:

• rubbing your head
• cupping your fist with your other hand
• pacing
• getting sarcastic
• losing your sense of humor
• acting in an abusive or abrasive manner
• craving a drink, a smoke or other substances that relax you
• raising your voice
• beginning to yell, scream, or cry