Anger in the Age of Entitlement

The proliferation of blogs and emails may be partially responsible for the increase in anger of recent years. We can learn a lot about the emotions that motivate many blogs and emails, as well as reactions to them, from, believe it or not, a few observations of animals.

Anger, for instance, is the fight part of the primitive fight/flight/freeze response common to all mammals.

I want to apologize in advance for this post, which is really an esoteric debate between therapists. Yet I urge present and potential consumers of psychotherapy to skim it, along with Dr. Diamond's cited post, to appreciate the importance of doing your own research on the ideology of any psychotherapist you might hire. Read More

My many posts on anger have distinguished the natural function of the emotion - to protect something of value - from anger problems - the recurring experience of anger that makes one act against one's best interests.

The issue of anger problems is not a simplistic distinction between primary and secondary emotions, which is just a straw-man argument.

I was recently approached about participating in a documentary on anger and incivility in the land, which caused me to reflect on why things seem to be getting worse. Read More