Addressing Unacknowledged Anger and Aggression

Anger and aggression are normal feelings, just like sadness and happiness. When any feeling is avoided or ignored, it can cause issues down the road. Feelings are an indicator that we are alive and human. However, due to the discomfort of these feelings, some individuals try to avoid feeling them at all costs.

Unacknowledged anger and aggression can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. It can even cause physical pain, in some cases, causing serious issues that need attention. In many cases, people may not realize why they are distressed or out of sorts. Their feelings of anger have been tucked away so neatly that they hardly remember or notice that they are actually still there.

Mental health treatment can help you address unacknowledged anger and aggression. Through different forms of therapy and measures of treatment, you can find release and relief. Being disgruntled without the recollection of why is unhealthy and not just another one of life's inevitabilities. Treatment can help you unpack your feelings so that you can process them and move forward in better health.

What Are Feelings?

We all have them, but sometimes they go so easily unnoticed. Feelings are an emotional state subject to your experiences. These experiences can be evoked by a plethora of things, such as one's traditions, personal beliefs, and environment.

Types of feelings or emotions are:

• Sadness

• Happiness

• Anger

• Fear

• Love

• Jealousy

• Resentment

• Curious

• Affection

• Passion

It is necessary to acknowledge all feelings. Even feelings of hatred. It is an unpleasant and potentially dangerous feeling. However, acknowledging hate as it arises within you offers the opportunity to dissect it and understand if it is a healthy form of hate, like hatred for crime or injustice. Acknowledging that feeling and understanding where it comes from and whether or not it is healthy can produce the appropriate reaction, like voting versus taking the law into your own hands.

A Closer Look at Anger and Aggression

Anger may sound like a negative feeling, but feelings are not necessarily negative. Reactions to feelings are where the true negativity comes in. Anger can be healthy and help you process whatever triggered that feeling and heal before the reaction or aggression comes into play.

For example, if you are angry due to mistreatment, that is a natural feeling and reaction to something that should not be or have happened. However, if you become aggressive and react violently based on that emotional pain, the anger can build, giving that trigger power over you.

Falling into aggression is not safe. It is a never-ending road that takes you further than you ever intended to go. This bumpy road with a dead end can leave you frantically changing out your moods based on anxiety and paranoia based on the origin of the pent-up aggression. When this goes unacknowledged, you can become a shell of yourself, causing impaired cognition and the inability to be present in a moment.

The Effects of Unacknowledged Anger and Aggression

Feelings are meant to be felt, and when anger goes untreated, it can cause more damage than the initial feeling of it. Sometimes individuals have tucked away and carried anger for years. As these feelings have not been addressed, it takes up unavailable space in one's life.

Feeling your feeling, even the seemingly negative ones, keeps you grounded. Whatever triggered you to feel angry triggered you for a reason. Choosing to ignore the feeling or repressing the memory of what caused it will only make matters worse.

Think of it like sweeping dirt under the rug versus into a dustpan and throwing it away. The more dirt you sweep under the rug, the higher the rug sits, with filth ready to burst from its corners at any moment. When you handle your feelings in this manner, you are like a volcano that can erupt at any time. Problems with anger can be linked to various diagnoses.

Holing in or repressing anger can cause:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• High blood pressure

• Headaches

• Heart problems

• Other stress-related illnesses

Many individuals who struggle with unacknowledged anger may also experience trauma responses, as anger can often be connected to past traumatic experiences that have not been properly processed.

Addressing Unacknowledged Feelings: How Treatment Can Help

Mental health treatment offers various approaches to help individuals process and manage anger in healthy ways. Evidence-based treatment methods have proven effective in helping people understand and work through their anger.

Individual therapy can help you draw out the memories, experiences, or moments that caused you to tuck your feelings away. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is particularly effective for anger management, as it helps identify thought patterns that contribute to anger and teaches healthier coping strategies.

If you need to know that you are not alone and others experience what you do, group therapy can provide a level of peer support. Group therapy allows you to learn from others who have similar experiences and practice new skills in a supportive environment.

There are even forms of treatment that can be done without always speaking, like mindfulness therapy and meditation. Holistic treatment approaches incorporate mind-body practices that can help you develop emotional regulation skills.

For those dealing with anger alongside substance use issues, it's important to address both concerns simultaneously through co-occurring disorders treatment. Anger and substance use often reinforce each other, making integrated treatment essential for lasting recovery.

Treatment options include various levels of care depending on your needs:

• Outpatient treatment for ongoing support while maintaining daily responsibilities

• Intensive outpatient program for more structured support

• Virtual telehealth sessions for convenient access to care

Find Help for Anger Management

Understanding the importance of addressing your feelings in a healthy manner can help you protect against mental health issues caused by unacknowledged anger and aggression. These feelings are normal, and everyone experiences them from time to time. However, when these feelings go unaddressed, it is unhealthy for your mental state and everything attached to it.

If you're struggling with anger management or unresolved feelings that are impacting your daily life, professional help is available. Use our treatment directory to find qualified mental health providers in California who specialize in anger management and emotional regulation. Our directory includes providers who accept various insurance plans and offer different treatment approaches to help you find the right fit for your specific needs and circumstances.