Social Costs Of Anger
While this may not sound like a bad fate to suffer, consider that research consistently shows that having healthy supportive relationships with family, friends, coworkers and colleagues is quite important for maintaining health. Having the social support of one’s peers helps to ward off emotional problems and serious health conditions, including heart disease. People are less likely to experience debilitating depression when they have strong social support.
Angry people frequently have cynical attitudes toward others and are unable to recognize or utilize support when it is available. Because hostile people don’t realize the impact their behavior has on others, they don’t realize that they are pushing people away when they refuse or ridicule genuine attempts at helpfulness. Angry people also tend to drink, smoke, and eat more than their less angry counterparts. Without a social network of people to dampen these tendencies, the probability of serious health consequences is high.
Anger’s physiological response and arousal evolved to help people handle physical threats. In today’s world, however, there are not very many places where physical aggression is an appropriate response. This is particularly true in the more public parts of your life, including your workplace interactions. Verbally assaulting your boss will likely get you fired. Similarly, jumping out of your car to attack a motorist who cut you off could land you in court. Uncontrolled anger can result in loss of employment, loss of one’s family, and even incarceration. Individuals who cannot get a grip on their disruptive, aggressive behavior are likely to suffer not only increased risks for health problems but serious social problems as well.
MentalHealth.com is a health technology company guiding people towards self-understanding and connection. The platform offers reliable resources, accessible services, and nurturing communities. Its mission involves educating, supporting, and empowering people in their pursuit of well-being.
The content on this page was originally from MentalHelp.net, a website we acquired and moved to MentalHealth.com in September 2024. This content has not yet been fully updated to meet our content standards and may be incomplete. We are committed to editing, enhancing, and medically reviewing all content by March 31, 2025. Please check back soon, and thank you for visiting MentalHealth.com. Learn more about our content standards here.
We take mental health content seriously and follow industry-leading guidelines to ensure our users access the highest quality information. All editorial decisions for published content are made by the MentalHealth.com Editorial Team, with guidance from our Medical Affairs Team.