Aggressive anger is a driving anger that is openly expressed by feelings of frustration, hostility and resentment. The person feeling this type of anger acts out on it regardless of the consequences. They do not care who or what they hurt in the process. This type of person has trouble controlling and dealing with their emotions. Those who have aggressive anger many times need professional help in coping and controlling it.

Here are some of the main characteristics associated with aggressive anger:

1.   Threats- Threatening people is a common symptom of aggressive anger. Threats are used not only to frighten someone but also to explain how you will harm their property, loved ones or prospects in life. Threats can range from saying something in an aggressive fashion to putting your finger or fist in someone's face to invoke fear. Other threatening behavior includes wearing clothing and using symbols representing violence, behavior like tailgating and slamming things like doors all the time.

2.   Hurtfulness- This is an obvious one. The level of hurt can range from actual physical violence causing harm, abuse including verbal and sexual, ignoring others feelings, willful discrimination, casting blame on others, punishing people for no good reasons, labeling others

3.   Destructiveness- Any displays of destructive behavior including destroying objects and property of others. Harming animals, destroying relationships between other people, reckless behavior included but not only substance abuse.

4.   Bullying - Includes threatening people directly whether physically or emotionally, Using one's power and strength against another they perceive as weaker, playing on peoples weaknesses to get an upper hand

5.   Unjust Blame - Blaming innocent people for things they did not do or for things you did, blaming others for how you feel, using accusations against people

6.   Manic Behavior - Constant mood swings and behavior. Symptoms can include walking and talking too fast, workaholic and expecting others to be the same, speeding and over spending money.

7.    Grandiosity - This type of behavior includes a distorted view of one's self of grander based on an inflated ego. It manifests in showing off, distrust, having to be the center of attention all the time, being a sore loser, not listening to others, talking over others heads, expecting to kiss and make up as a solution to ones problems with another.

8.   Selfishness-Self absorbed, not caring about the needs of others,

Behavior like jumping lines because of the feeling they don't have to wait like everyone else

9.   Vengeance- Always plotting revenge. Harbors grudges will not forgive or forget, likes to get even for no good reason

10.                     Unpredictability- explosive and violent reactions to even little mishaps, indiscriminate attacks, inflicting unwarranted harm on others, illogical arguments, a substance abuser

Anger is one of those emotions that left unaddressed can lead to great problems. There are constructive ways to release anger that are actually healthy. Its uncontrollable aggressive anger that is problematic if its reasons are not handled before they become out of hand.

We all get angry it's a normal human reaction. Rage and hate are the extreme manifestations of anger. Anger as rage and hate is the end of the anger spectrum. When a person feels hate; it is an ultimate type of anger that is manifested. Hate demands some sort of action to satisfy it. The actions related to hate are for the most part destructive with violence and other aggressive behaviors attached to it. Hate is the strongest demonstration of anger and rage that one can show. On the other hand a person that is persecuted and abused can also display rage and hate due to their treatment.

When one is angry enough to feel rage it usually comes out in an explosive manner. Expressing the feeling as such gives us a brief sense of relief. What happens though; when it is expressed as such the relief is momentary followed by no change in the emotion of rage and hate as such. The person still harbors hate and rage most of the time even when he lets it out on others. It creates a momentary satisfaction but does not solve the source of the problem that is making the hate and rage manifest in the first place.

When a person is so angry to the point of rage and hate they no longer use reason and logic when hard pressed or confronted by the source or sources stimulating this response. Generating or being faced by hate the hormones oxytocin, vasopressin and corticotrophin are released from the hypothalamus of the brain. The pituitary gland responds to these chemicals by releasing adrenocorticotropic hormone into our bloodstream. This makes us stronger and enables us to take on physical challenges. Our brains auto nervous system at this point responds to the emotions of rage and hate not our cognitive centers.

It's not uncommon for us to feel some form of rage in our lives. In psychological terms rage is explained as a means to express hostile/affective reactive aggression. It is the type of anger that is associated with violence. The motivating factor when one feels anger to the degree of rage and hate is to hurt the cause of this feeling by any means they can. Most of the time it's without planning and forethought it's a reaction to the trigger. The source of this anger can in actuality be real or perceived. In other words it may be valid as an emotion based on the person's situation or it may not be founded on any validity whatsoever.

People normally do not like to react or display anger to the point of rage and hate.  A person who has trouble expressing their anger without rage and hate are in need of professional intervention. If you find yourself or someone you know always in a state of rage or hate gets them the help they need. It is a clear indication that this person is having trouble thinking clearly and needs help outside of themselves to deal with this over powering emotion that they cannot control effectively by themselves.

To understand what anger is let's define it. First, we can all agree that anger is an emotion. It is an emotion based on feelings of intense displeasure and hostility. There are different degrees and types of anger. Let's look at some definitions to really understand what anger is.

Definitions of Anger:

1.   A strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence caused by a wrong; also known as wrath

2.   A strong feeling or emotion of either displeasure or antagonism or a combination of both. Excitement caused by real or supposed insult or injury to one's personal self or another for the purpose of causing harm or injury

3.   A feeling of great annoyance or antagonism due to a real or imagined grievance

These are the main definitions one can find that is associated with the feeling of anger. There are many words that are associated with anger as well. These words include: rage, furry, wrath, resentment and indignation. Mad is a word we many times use instead of angry. By definition mad is a type of anger that lapses into a loss of mental faculties resulting in a type of insanity. Regardless of the words we use to describe anger we can say above the board that all these words used to describe the emotion of anger connote degrees of negative feelings which may or may not be expressed.

Anger is the word we use for the feeling we have which usually manifests as a strong burst of displeasure. It can take the form of rage, furry, wrath, resentment or indignation.

When we think of rage and furry it implies an intense, explosive and many times destructive type of anger manifested in us that we unleash externally.  When we feel furry we appear many times crazy to those around us by how we express it. Wrath is the type of anger that makes us want to seek justice and revenge to wrongs we feel that have been thrust upon us. Resentment is the type of angry feeling we get when we let it smolder inside. It is usually the result of a grievance that we hold deep in us in relation to a person that we resent. Finally indignation is righteous anger. We express indignation when we are wronged; some injustice was done to us or a loved one or against just plain old evil. 

The spectrum of anger varies from person to person based on their perceptions of a situation. We all experience anger and will continue to do so as long as we are alive. It is a basic human emotion. We express anger as a reaction to negative and painful situations. When we experience negativity that is painful to us we feel it has to be processed by displaying or feeling angry emotions. Anger is an emotion that we use when we feel hurt, abused, mistreated or opposed to for long periods of time based on what we believe. Anger is our response to those things that prevent us from achieving our goals in our life and allowing us to experience happiness.

Just as there are different types of happiness the same is with anger. Anger for the most part is broken down into two categories. The categories are Passive and Aggressive anger. Here a look at Passive anger.

Passive Anger is expressing ones anger in a quieter manner usually at someone else's expense. Passive anger may be expressed in terms of repressed angry with an angry person. It may not be overtly expressed by the person experiencing this type of inner anger. It comes out in subtle behaviors such as in constantly whining or depression.

There are 8 outward behaviors associated with passive anger they are:

1.   Secretive Behavior- With this type of anger the angry person may talk to someone like nothing is wrong holding their feelings in; and then talk bad behind the persons back. Secretive behavior in terms of anger includes giving someone the silent treatment, muttering under one's breath, avoiding eye contact, putting people down, gossiping, giving anonymous complaints, poison pen letters and stealing and conning the person they are angry with.

2.    Psychological Manipulation- This type of behavior uses provocation to the point where the person becomes aggressive and then the provoker patronizes the person they provoke for getting to that point. Another way this is done is to provoke the person to the point of aggression and then step back and watch what happens. Other forms of psychological manipulation includes emotional blackmail, using false tears to get what you want, pretending to be sick, sabotaging relationships, using sexual provocation, using a third party to convey negative feelings to a person as well as holding back someone's money or resources.

3.   Self Blame- A person who uses self blame is always apologizing is overly critical of others as well as inviting self criticism. This type also invites others to criticize themselves and others as well.

4.    Self Sacrifice- Self sacrificers always take second best or a back seat to others. They are over helpful. Self Sacrificers show quiet signs of their suffering but will not do anything about it. Likewise the eat ingratitude like a starving puppy.

5.   Ineffectualness- This type of anger involves setting one's self and others up for failure. Ineffectualness includes things like dealing with and choosing people who are unreliable on purpose, being prone to accidents, underachieving, sexual impotence, getting angry and frustrated at insignificant things while ignoring those things that are actually deserving of annoyance and anger.

6.   Dispassion-This includes giving cold shoulders, being phony to others, showing no concern in situations that warrant it, refusing to make a decision, letting others make a decision that you should make while you sit on the fence, dampening emotions with substance abuse, over eating and sleeping, not responding to another's anger, frigidity, sexual activities that are not spontaneous and their partner sexually is viewed as an object. Those displaying dispassion give abnormal amounts of time to machinery and equipment. They pursue intellectual things and may talk of being frustrated but actually showing no emotions.

7.   Obsessive Behavior- This type of behavior usually demands perfection. Obsessive types have behavior that involves being extremely neat and clean to a fault, make a habit of checking and rechecking things, do everything in extreme. For example if and obsessive person diets they over diet maybe even to starvation or if the eat they over eat etc. There behavior is always extreme there is no moderation with them. It's all one way or another.

8.   Evasiveness- Are those who turn a blind eye in the middle of a crisis, avoiding conflict, not arguing back and becoming phobic.

These are the general signs of passive anger. Passive anger is caused by the need to have control without the least amount of accountability for one's actions. It is different from suppressed anger in that all these things are done intentionally to provoke another. When one has suppressed anger they do not consciously express it to the target that they feel causes the anger.

Anger is a strong emotional response that humans and animals display to things that stimulate that feeling in them. When we feel angry it is because our bodies react bio chemically to a stimulus to make us feel that way. The human body responds to anger with the flight or fight response. It is the same reaction mechanism mode that the body goes into when we feel threatened or a danger is upon us. The fight or flight response is the genetic defense system encoded in us that makes us respond as such since the beginning of time. Anger also is one of those emotions that we manifest as our body's way of protecting us. Anger naturally protects us from what we believe to be a harmful or hurtful threat whether it is real or imagined.

When we become angry our heart beat speeds up, our blood pressure goes up and adrenaline is released from our brains to our bodies the same way as when we are frightened or feel threatened. This in scientific terms is called the fight or flight response. We are physically gearing ourselves to either fight that which is causing this response in us or run. Some of the ways we choose to handle our anger is either with passive resistance also called hostile inaction.  An example of this includes things like ignoring the source causing us anger or withdrawing. Another way one may choose to handle their feelings of anger may be with violence or hostile behavior which is called active hostility or aggressive anger.

The main thing after our bodies go into automatic response from being angry is that we then have to consciously decide how we want to express the anger. Do we want to fly off the handle or control it? This is where using cognitive choice then enters the equation of being angry. Anger is first our biochemical reaction to a stimulus we view as threatening or hurtful based on a particular situation. It's our primitive reaction that is innate in us to handle these threats that has us manifest the emotion of anger. Anger is a defense mechanism that protects us from harm whether it is from a person or situation. When we become angry because of the biochemical reactions our body experiences with the emotion of anger stimulated; we become both physically and emotionally stronger as a result. Anger instills the motivation to fight the perceived onslaught with courage. The main issue with anger is that we have to use discrimination on how and when we display varying degrees and types of anger. Something that would cause a person a mild annoyance should not make them fly off the handle in a fuming rage. Anger has to be learned to be controlled for the appropriate angry response based on a particular circumstance. 

When we get angry there are several things that go into the dynamics of one's anger. Past experiences, learned behaviors, genetic pre- dispositions all play a role in how we express our angry selves. It is good if we use anger in a constructive fashion, to release it; make our point and then continue on with our normal life. But if it's released unwarranted causing damage and harm unnecessarily then the angry reaction needs to be addressed. In that situation if there is no reason to go ballistic and the person can only express their anger as such then they have a problem with controlling themselves. In this case they may need anger management.  In anger management a professional will address both the behavioral and cognitive issues that ensue that make the person behave with no control while they are angry. It will give the person tools with which they can better control their emotion of anger instead of it controlling them.

Even though anger is an emotion which is a reaction to something that stimulates that feeling in us; it is also a physiological response.

There are physical things that happen to us when we feel anger. When we experience anger our blood pressure rises, our heart beats increase and we go through biochemical reactions stemming in our brains. From our brains, the hormones adrenaline and noradrenalin are released into our bloodstreams as a physical reaction to the emotion of anger.

We react to anger physically the same way we would to a perceived threat. Our bodies go into the automatic response of fight or flight. This is our body's way to react to something it perceives as a danger or threat to us. We then decide based on the physical reaction our body goes through whether to stay to fight the source of anger or withdraw as in flight. The physiological reaction of fight or flight is our body's preparation for us to defend our selves.

The fight or flight reaction is an old genetic code that is wired into our systems that goes back to the beginning of man in the caves. Cave men would have the same response in their bodies to a perceived threat as we do today. The part of our brains that respond in anger is the same part that responds to fear causing the fight or flight response. It is the hypothalamus region of the brain. When we get angry this part of the brain triggers a cellular response in the nerve cells which prepares us to defend ourselves. That defense can take the form of staying and fighting or running thus the term fight or flight is the reaction that is used to describe this response.

The part of the brain that directly deals with all of our emotions called the amygdala goes crazy when we feel anger. This is why we go into automatic pilot first when we become angry. After that initial response our control or lack of control of the angry emotion kicks in. The time between an anger trigger and that part of our brains is literally a quarter of a second. This eliminates at first all our thought processes. At the same time our frontal lobe increases with blood flow. It is this part of our brains that gives us reasoning. The frontal lobe part of the brain that will either allow us to beat someone to a pulp or control the urge to do so. These two regions of the brain have to balance each other; the auto response part of the brain and the logic part. Once they are in sink we can gain control after our fight and flight initial response in anger so we can control the direction of our emotions. Science has noted that the response time neurologically we have in an anger episode is approximately 2 seconds. This is why it is suggested that we count to ten before acting on anger because of these 2 seconds. After the two seconds we have the possibility to regain control of our angry emotions.

When we think of the word bully it conjures up a group of kids in a school yard picking on the class nerd. Unfortunately that is bullying; but bullying also encompasses more and worse. The act of bullying is not exclusively done by children alone. Adults can bully too.  Bullying is an aggressive angry behavior. It is a behavior that one person or group inflicts upon another for no good reason other than they believe they are stronger than the person they bully.

Because the Bully has the idea that they are more powerful than their victim they believe that alone gives them a right to bully them. Bullying is premised on the notion that the bullier is more powerful than the weak victim. They feel this fact gives them the right to dominate and control the weaker target by any means they deem necessary. Bullying is an overt form of expressing anger. It is typically made up of a series of repeated acts of abuse at the expense of the victim over a period of time. There is a sense of power that the bully gets from this behavior. It is with this distorted sense of empowerment that makes the bully feel entitled to behave as such on the innocent victim.

The aggression the bully uses against the victim can take many forms. Of the many forms the bully uses violence in some fashion is used. Any form of injury causing harm being physical, emotional or verbal that causes pain is used. Research has shown that people who bully have domination and control issues and disorders. Although on the outside they appear to be egotistical to the point of narcissism; their inner emotions are a wreck of insecurities. It is their inner feelings which make them act out by any means necessary to help them battle their issues. Those that bully are desperate to feel empowered by using any thing or person they can to feel better about themselves.

Adults who bully have never been made accountable for their behavior and have for the most part gotten away with this behavior since they were children. If confronted with questions about their bullying and behavior they go into denial. Bullies are the best of the liars. They are cowards who will deny their terrible behavior when confronted with it. What this means is that they really know that their behavior is horrible and don't want to appear as such. Their behavior puts them in the category of the sociopath with their treatment of those they feel are subordinate to them. The other reason they deny their bullying behavior is because they have no desire to change. They get by on bullying and will continue to do so.

Bullying is a violent act that is steeped in hate, anger and rage. There is no justification for bullying on the planet. If you are being bullied or you know a person who is being bullied; the first thing you have to do is gather every ounce of strength you have to fight them by any means necessary. A bully will not stop if you don't make them.  You may have to find a friend, go to the authorities do what ever you have to if you can't fight them alone. These are dangerous minded people with little regard for human kind and need to be dealt with professionally. This mean either by psychological or police intervention.

Every human being and animal on the planet experiences some form of anger. For humans, anger is a basic emotion. It is the type of feeling we let out when we feel hurt, abused, mistreated or feel threatened by something. In science our reaction as anger is related to the fight and flight mechanism built into us since cave man days. It is described as a predominant feeling that occurs behaviorally, cognitively and physiologically when we perceive a threat or something about to hurt us.

Like fight and flight which is our response to danger, physically when we are angry our body responds first. When we feel anger coming on us our hearts start to beat faster, our blood pressure rises and hormones are released from the brain into the blood stream. These are the same reactions that occur when our bodies experience fear from danger. Anger triggers our auto nervous system as it does with fear and danger. Being angry is on automatic response first and then we either control it through our thought processes. If we do not consciously control anger it will controls us.

Anger like happiness is a subjective emotion based on our perceptions of a situation at a given time. Also everyone has a different tolerance level to things that may or may not make them angry. What may anger one person strongly may just mildly annoy another. The actual emotion of anger lasts in varied times depending on the person's intensity of the anger they feel. A person's time span for anger is correlated to their anger threshold. This means based on how fast a person reacts by getting angry also affects how long they may actually remain angry. Those who tend to get angry quicker harbor anger longer than those that don't. Then there are angry people who don't even realize their anger. These are the kind of folks that will behave angrily but don't see it as such. You tell them they are angry because their behavior indicates it. They may deny it because they do not realize it.

Experts on behavior say that the average person gets angry at least once a day; and peeved (very angry) at least two to three times in a course of a day. There are also those anger management specialists who say people actually get angry at least 15 times in a day. In reality it's not the amount of time in a day that really matters in terms of anger. The point is that all humans get angry on a regular basis living in the world. Anger is a normal emotion that everyone experiences at some point. When we get angry its okay to release it, if it's done in a constructive and in positive fashion. Positive anger implies thought is used to defuse the anger as we act on it. This means the person takes time even as little as 10 seconds to process the anger before reacting. It is when the thought process goes out the window when we are angry that there becomes possibility of harming one's self and those around them. The difference of thinking first before acting when angry may mean the difference between yelling at someone or knocking them unconscious.

Aggressive Anger is overt anger that is aimed at whatever the angry person chooses to direct it to. It is openly driven angry behavior that is fed by frustration that snow balls to full blown acts and attacks of angry behavior. In this type of anger frustration and anxiety is acted upon with no control what so ever. Aggressive anger can become a problem if the person is constantly displaying this type of overt behavior. In this case they need professional help as soon as possible.

The first behavior sign that lets you know you are dealing with a person who has aggressive anger issues is they will use threats. Threatening behavior is an emotional device they employ to frighten those who they let their anger out on. The main reason they use threats is to get what they want from you. They will threaten you verbally and reinforce it with physical jesters like shaking a fist at you to try and invoke fear.

It is needless to say that aggressive anger always involves some form of hurtfulness that is targeted at the victim. This is one of the main stays of an aggressively angry person. They are ready to hurt another at an instance. The aggressively angry person will always consider physical violence as a form of hurting someone. Anything that causes pain or hurt is fair grabs for people harboring this type of anger. The types of pain they like to cause the person who is the brunt of their anger usually take some abusive form. The range of abuse has a spectrum from verbal, to emotional, to physical abuse including for some sexual abuse as well. An aggressively angry person ignores your feelings. They do not care that they are hurting you or how you feel. They tend to dole out unjust punishments at will. They also place the blame of their feelings on the victim. For example they will blame you for them hitting you. They take no responsibility for the cause of their anger or the results of their anger.

When people have aggressive anger they like to destroy things. This destructive behavior is towards objects, animals, others and themselves. They will destroy property of another as well as hurt themselves like self mutilation. Their destructive behavior can also take the form of recklessness like driving insanely and substance abuse.

Bullying is overt behavior that aggressive angry people use. It is done in an effort to inflict fear on a victim to empower themselves by dominating someone they view as weaker. Bullying is directly aggressive, including physical and verbal abuse. The bully always goes after that person or animal he feels is weaker than he is in order to empower himself at the expense of the person.

Shifting blame on innocent people for the mistakes they themselves make is how they reason and deal with their overtly angry behavior.  An aggressively angered person will rationalize that the victim deserves the treatment he gives out even though it is not rational or just. This behavior includes accusing others constantly and not taking responsibility for one's feelings but rather blaming others for their emotions. For example "It's your fault I hit you because" (what ever excuse) would be a classic example of this.

Many aggressively angry people experience manic behavior. Manic behavior takes the form of extreme mood swings from being ecstatic on moment and depressed the next.  Signs of this include a person who walks and talks too fast, workaholics and expecting everyone around them to be the same. Other symptoms include compulsive behavior like overspending and things like driving too fast.

In order to justify their anger, an aggressively angry person will have an inflated ego and view of themselves. They are show offs, display distrust, will not delegate responsibilities,  are sore losers, have to be the center of attention all the time, do not listen to others and then talk over their heads when they do. They expect others to kiss and make up with them when the act out.

An angry aggressive person also has a constant need to constantly seek revenge. Having to seek revenge keeps the anger fueled. This includes never forgiving or forgetting and always having to seek revenge and get even with someone to the point of obsession. They constantly rehash things from the past as a catalyst for vengeance.

The angry aggressive person is a time bomb waiting to explode. They will blow up from any little thing that annoys them. The angry aggressive type will attack without discrimination or discretion. They will dole out unfair punishments, inflicting harm just for the sake of hurting, initiate illogical arguments and abuse substances.

These are all the symptomatic behaviors of a person that has aggressive anger issues. A person harboring aggressive anger needs intervention professionally. They can be dangerous to themselves and others if left unaddressed by those who know how to handle these types of people. If you are in a situation with this type of person and they do not agree to get help it's better to disassociate with them all together. If they do not let go then you may have to opt for police or another legal avenue to get this person away from you. This is especially true if your safety is a concern.

Anger is an intense emotional response to something that affects us in a negative way. It is our body and mind's way of processing a perceived threat to us. Anger is an emotional response triggered by some sort of provocation.

There are three modalities of anger.

1.   Cognitive-( our minds appraisal of the situation causing the angry response)

2.   Somatic-Effective( our somatic nervous system responds with tensions and agitations that are biochemically induced)

3.   Behavioral-( we either engage or withdraw to the source of stimulation of anger)

It is these three things that combine into the expression of anger. Anger is a primal body reaction that is triggered by our fight and flight responses biochemically. When we get angry our body responses physically the same way we respond to a threat. Our hearts beat faster, our blood pressure rises and adrenaline is released from our brains into our bloodstream all producing the anger reaction. This physical reaction gives us strength both physically and emotionally to deal with the source causing the anger.

The problem is when we become angry our fight or flight mechanism kicks in at the expense of us being able to think first.  As a result people who don't have a control over this emotion succumb to the automatic response that their brain produces to the thing making them angry. Those with anger management issues have trouble controlling their minds over anger. In order to combat the innate reaction our body stimulates when we are angry we have to become aware of choices we have in how to respond when angry. This includes the thoughts we have while angered. This can be hard to do when one is enraged. So as a result we can respond with outright violence to a source of anger or by passive resistance which takes thought. The later; passive resistance would include things like withdrawing from the situation all together, ignoring the source of anger, stonewalling to name a few of the passive alternatives. 

Anger is our bodies and minds reaction to what it perceives to be threatening it. The threat can be real or it can be imagined. None the less if someone is angry this is the response the body produces. It is our anger that protects us from being dominated, manipulated or hurt by others. The thing is we have to learn how to control our anger to use it effectively. When we let anger control us it can be a destructive thing. The two main reasons across the board as to why we become angry is frustration and a feeling of lack of respect. We become frustrated when we feel what is due us is denied; what ever it may be. Add to that the feeling that we feel people don't care or respect us and you have the makings of an angry person.