Hate is harsh...

> > I don't get angry enough.
>
> Why is this a problem?
> I mean, controlling our anger is very good, but reflecting it against yourself is bad.
>
> Anger and a lot of other things are our basic instincts; think of them as a source of energy - as a nuclear reactor is; if you don't control them, the result may be a nuclear explosion, but if you repress them or reflect that energy against you, it's like swallowing the same bomb. The right thing is to "control" this energy letting it flow outside ourselves by consuming it (in a sport activity, in our daily work, etc...)
>

Hmmmmm. While I understand the psychological *theory* behind the Freudian concept of "repressed anger," and the "need" for it in particular to be vented as a "cathartic release," I'm not sure I actually buy the idea. Anger, to me, appears to be one of those feelings that is either On, or Off. You do have a certain degree of choice in the matter of how you express it (Primal Screaming??). But you cannot "reflect anger inward" against yourself and cause depression that way, as if repressed anger, not given a form of release, will end up consuming you with self-hate. Guilt over anger comes from a sense of being out of control, however temporarily, whenever the rage hits.

I think one can get frustrated or irritable, which can cause an visible outburst of anger; or the person may equally suppress his anger, bring it under control, and exert it in a fashion to spur activity. Some people may have a temperament prone to feeling angry and have trouble controlling it: but I have noticed that if they give free reign to their feelings and have an outburst in public, it often makes them even MORE extremely angry... and then guilty afterward for saying or doing things they hadn't intended to. Where is the supposedly cleansing catharsis in THAT?

So I really don't know how people who do think they have a "problem with anger" would respond to Amanda's complaint that you, Don, "don't get angry enough"!

Wolfspirit