Anger management post-COVID

While the slower pace of social distancing and self-isolation has created opportunity for families to strengthen their relationships by spending quality time together—time for board games and jigsaw puzzles, bike rides and stories—living together 24/7 can also give rise to negative emotions, particularly anger. Thankfully, at this point, much of the world is opening up again, and many of us are returning to our schools and workplaces. Nevertheless, the world we are now living in is looking more hybrid than ever before. To put it simply, more of us are spending more time working from home than we ever have before. This creates obvious problems for all of us as we struggle to adapt to this “new normal” in life.

As someone who struggled to learn how to express anger in constructive ways, I know the feeling of anger bubbling up and being expressed in unconstructive ways; and I know the feelings of remorse and shame that follow. But I also know that, with the help of God, it is possible to learn effective anger management. So, if frustration and anger are more frequent emotions during this time of stress and social isolation, you may find some of what I’ve learned over the years helpful.

First and foremost, as a Christian, I’ve found it imperative to daily ask God allow His spirit to help me so that I might live in ways that evidence love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). One of the bible verses that I’ve found particularly insightful is found in Ephesians 4:26, where Paul states: “In your anger do not sin”. These words reflect the social science perspective that anger is a normal human emotion, but that there are both appropriate and inappropriate ways of expressing it.

Ideally, we should begin to learn how to “be angry without sinning” during childhood, because a child’s anger is so unpleasant. Think hitting, biting, head-banging and screaming. Because anger is generally thought of as wrong, sinful or evil, many parents (and I am no exception) try to suppress their child’s anger rather than teaching different ways of appropriately expressing it. Consequently, many of us arrive in adulthood without the skills required for expressing anger “without sinning”.

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A resource that I’ve found helpful is child psychiatrist Dr Ross Campbell’s “anger ladder”, which outlines concrete steps for learning how to grow toward maturity in handling anger. While it is primarily intended as a parenting tool, it is also helpful for adults who are still maturing in this area, as it describes what “in your anger do not sin” might look like. Dr Campbell suggests that, when angry, your goals should be as follows:

1.       Think logically rather than allowing emotions to cloud your judgement

2.       Focus on the primary complaint rather than expressing unrelated complaints

3.       Focus on the source of your anger rather than displacing it on someone else

4.       Be pleasant in words and actions

5.       Seek to resolve the problem

While these might seem like unrealistic goals if you struggle with anger issues, a concept that helped me work towards these goals was the idea that anger is a secondary emotion. In other words, when we are angry, there are usually other feelings hidden under the surface.

Relationship researcher Dr John Gottman compares anger to an iceberg, only 10 per cent of which is visible above the surface, with the rest hidden below the water. Similarly, when we are angry, there are often other emotions that we are experiencing, some of which we would prefer to hide, such as feeling disrespected or rejected, shamed or embarrassed, fearful or insecure; or maybe just tired or hungry. Consequently, one way to learn to manage anger is to look beneath the surface and identify what might be triggering the feelings of anger.

When I first learned to look beneath the surface of my anger iceberg, I realised that, more often than not, I tended to feel angry when I was hungry. This is so common it even has a name: hangry. Now that I know that hunger is a trigger for me, I find (1) self-talk, (2) deep breathing and (3) intentionally keeping my mouth closed helpful in those moments, usually before mealtimes when I’m hangry. My husband has learned that when I’m super quiet and focused on preparing a meal it’s not a good time to make jokes or have an important conversation. Instead, he just asks, “Are you hungry?” and when I nod, he knowingly says, “Ahh,” and focuses on helping me prepare something to eat.

The next time you feel anger rising up, try to stop and think about what it is that you’re really feeling. It may take several attempts to look beneath the surface of the anger iceberg—many of us don’t know how to articulate our feelings beyond mad, bad, sad or glad—but I encourage you to persist. You might be surprised by what you discover. And you might be surprised by how much more manageable your anger is once you realise that there’s an underlying feeling that is driving it.

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Another one of the Bible verses I’ve found helpful is Ephesians 4:29, where Paul writes: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” For me, the most important word in this verse is let. “Do not let” implies that we have control over what comes out of our mouths.

I was confronted by this reality during a sermon, many years ago, in which the pastor spoke about anger management. He said something along these lines: “Imagine that you’re speaking angrily to your spouse or child when the phone rings. You pick up the phone, and instantly your tone of voice changes from harsh to polite.” Most of us in the audience smiled sheepishly, as we recognised the truth of what he was saying.

As human beings, created in the image of God, we have the freedom to choose our words and actions—words and actions that build others up or words and actions that tear others down. So if you find that this time of social isolation leads to more frequent episodes of anger rising up, try to take a few deep breaths (or maybe even a walk outdoors), identify what you’re really feeling and remember that, because you have control over the words that you let out of your mouth, you can be intentional in saying nothing until you’re able to “be angry without sinning”.

Edyta Jankiewicz is currently serving as Associate Ministerial Secretary at the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists. She has a MMin in Family Life and a PhD in Religious Education. She is married to Darius and has two daughters, Caitlin and Ashley.