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John, a young man in his early thirties once came for treatment for an unusual problem. He was addicted to sex. Despite being married, his sexual drive was so strong that he had to engage in masturbatory activities many times a day. Nothing was of help to him. He was taken aback when I explained to him that it was due to rage that was locked up in his body. He was not convinced till he started doing the exercises that I advised him. He noticed a vaxing and waning of his sexual drive that was directly linked to his experiencing an arousal and calming of his anger states. Eventually, his drive became manageable. This is an example of anger that was ready to be released.

Anger when suppressed to the extent that the person develops defences around them by distracting themselves of angry thoughts, can make a person emotionally cold. Such people exhibit ‘psychopathic’ behaviour, as it is termed in psychiatry. These people are ruthless in attaining their own goals. Many such people are found in senior positions of power in every sphere of life. If their anger is stripped off, they lose their ruthlessness, which rarely happens. People who are in positions of power have a lot to lose if they were to lose their anger.

A gentleman who is a reformed alcoholic prided himself into attending Alcoholics Anonymous for three times a week over last 18 years. He came to me for the treatment of non-ulcerative dyspepsia. This is a condition in which the stomach produces excessive acid. I jokingly remarked that he would stop going for the meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous by the time he is finished with his treatment. Initially he found it unbelievable. But as his anger has reduced with treatment, he is now attending the meetings once a week on an average.

All addictions are due to suppressed anger. Anger when held back has an interesting quality. When it is not released in time, it starts affecting the nervous system. The person may then engage in self-destructive activities like taking alcohol and drugs that are out of control or gambling of some kind or sex addiction. In my experience, other than providing medical treatment to such individuals, they have also to be helped in dealing with their anger.

Depression is a common psychiatric condition. That the nervous system is slowed down in depression- is a myth. Depression is also the result of suppressed anger. During a depressive state, the nervous, hormonal and muscular systems of the body are under tension. When the body is unable to bear this tension, it gives in and features of depression appear. The stress hormones in depression are increased, not decreased.

Anger when combined with guilt can lead to drastic behaviours like completed suicides. It is a known fact in psychiatry that extremely depressed people do not kill themselves because they do not have the energy for suicide. Those who kill themselves have anger and a sense of self-blame. Combination of these two emotions forms a deadly cocktail.

In most of the sleep disorders, one of the major causes for sleep disturbances is the bottled up anger. In a recent case, a lady was involved in a road traffic accident. She was also feeling let down by her boss at work. She had all the classical features of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In this condition a person has nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, irritability and avoidance of any image or thought that reminds the sufferer of the trauma. During treatment, each time an anger issue was addressed, she would go home and sleep for 24 hours every 48 hours after the session. Anger is an emotion that prepares the body for fighting. So the mind has to be aroused to prepare the body to fight. From Mother Nature’s perspective, if the person would sleep when danger is around, the person would be killed. So the nervous system goes into an overdrive. It disturbs the normal sleep pattern.

When anger is suppressed, then stresses and strains in life can cause an explosion in its expression. During such strenuous times, a person may act irrationally and harm others. Many killings that occur within families happen because of such expressive explosions. The perpetrators in most of such cases are normal people.

Copyright Pradeep K Chadha 2006.

Pradeep K Chadha is a psychiatrist who specialises in helping patients with meditation and imagery using little or no medication. He is the author of The Stress Barrier-Nature’s Way To Overcoming Stress published by Blackhall Publishing, Dublin. He is based in Dublin, Ireland. His website address is http://www.drpkchadha.com.

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We dwell in a reality riddled with tenseness and timetables. It appears that the more we evolve with technology and paths to make things more quickly, the more panic anxiety attacks increase. This is a conundrum. One might take for granted that progress in technology would contribute to relieving the strain. Even so, anxiety and depressive disorder appear much worse now than when compared to the past. I guess it’s possible that in the past, folk did not talk about such unpleasantries. These days are different, we nowadays talk about it openly. Truth is, if you are a TV watcher, it is almost certain that you have come across an ad for a medicine, which provides panic attacks treatment (http://stop-anxietyattacks.net).

A rising number of us are facing these troubles. Whether it be sleep associated or fright of public spaces, researchers continue to make advances with new solutions. Anxiety and depressive disorder are certainly at the top of this long list. When I ponder the notion of depression, I think of someone who has recently suffered the loss of a loved one or an individual who is impaired in such a way that prevents them from carrying on normally. This is not necessarily true. Numerous individuals are stressed out by the burden of anxiety and depression for other reasons. The fact is we often do not know the reasons. You may wonder if it concerns the food we eat. It seems to be part of the human condition to lack total contentment with life.

Teens, as related to this issue, are of a great interest. Anxiety and depressive disorder seems to be striking them more than anyone these days. Granted, being a teen is difficult in some areas, and incredibly easy in others. Some teenagers may claim that it is all miserable. Even I was a teenager at one time. We all know what it’s like. Yet, natural depression was not part of my teenager experience. It is difficult to understand the changes of the last ten years. Panic attacks should not be a part of childhood. As a matter of fact, anxiety and depressive disorder should be much less frequent than it is altogether.

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