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Anger is quite complex and layered. For the sake of simplicity, there are two main types of anger that are relevant in this post: primary and secondary. Primary is a direct, automatic, and reflective response to being violated, mistreated, or put in danger. Primary anger mobilizes us to fight back, flee, and/or protect ourselves. This is when anger is the main and pure emotion.
This post is more about secondary anger, when other emotions are fuelling it but only anger seems to be externally expressed. These other, deeper emotions underneath secondary anger are usually a variation or mix of hurt, shame, fear, guilt, and or sadness.
The problem
A lot of research on anger management is focused on the individual and that person’s need for more self-regulation. What's often missing is the systemic, attachment-based interplay (many back-and-forth, circular interactions in sequence) between that person and their family or other relationships that reinforce the anger issues. While it's still the person's individual responsibility to work on themselves, it's important to notice patterns playing out that are bigger than individuals, and that the way others respond to those with anger issues can unintentionally reinforce it.
In my practice, I've seen secondary anger to be more common in men, who are especially socialized to be emotionless and stoic. When working with anger issues with couples and families in therapy, I noticed a common pattern. This pattern can start when the person with anger issues feels bad about themselves on a deep level, potentially unconsciously. This usually dates back to earlier traumatic memories of either being abused, neglected, bullied, belittled, or humiliated. Deep down this person may feel unlovable, like they don't belong or like they're not good enough. So when something doesn't work well, especially in their relationships, they tend to get reactive, irritable, defensive, and potentially lash out. To them, lashing out is like saying, "I'm hurt, stop that!" But that message gets obscured by their defensive and loud reactions (secondary anger reactions), and all it winds up doing to others is distancing them and potentially scaring them, depending on how severe it is. This, in turn, results in the person with anger issues feeling abandoned and isolated again, ironically and sadly, precisely when they need comfort, connection, love, and nurturing.
To their loved ones, it can be hard to see that it's right when they are angriest that they need the most love from others. When others tend to distance themselves, because no one wants to receive aggressive/reactive energy, it reinforces the person's trauma or lack of worth. This further sensitizes their anger issues, making them even more triggerable in frequency, intensity, and duration.
You can see how this becomes a self-fulfilling destructive cycle that brings people, relationships, families, and communities down with it. It could also be a pattern underlying a lot of the war we've seen. EMDR creator Francine Shapiro said, in one of her last interviews before she passed, that traumatized men tend to be violent and aggressive when triggered. This pattern, though, can happen to anyone with anger issues. So, in summary:
1) Feeling bad about oneself, likely from prior events stored traumatically >>
2) <<Being triggered by a situation (usually a relational one) >>
3) <<Inadvertently pushing others away >>
4) <<Confirmation of negative self-view >>
5) <<Reinforcement of secondary anger reactions like lashing out >>
6) <<Repeat steps 1 to 5 (not always in order), creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of isolation, ruptured relationships, and potential aggression or violence.
*It is a circular pattern, not a linear one, meaning the can occur out of order. For example, #2 and #3 can play out back and forth for a time before potentially leading to #4. Certain numbers can also get skipped.
The solution
In emotionally focused therapy (EFT), ideally combined with individual and EMDR therapy, the person can learn to communicate the hurt underlying their anger more effectively so that their loved ones can respond in a way that helps allay their residual hurt from traumas instead of exacerbates them. If the person was never taught how to identify and express the hurt underlying the secondary anger, it may continue to come out as reactivity, aggression, and lashing out. So cultivating emotional intelligence, self-knowledge, and insight are important, which can happen in powerful bonding moments in sessions. Ideally, others in their life can learn to be more compassionate, understanding, and less reactive to the person's anger issues as well. This can help them distance themselves less, which, in turn, will help the person with anger issues to feel less triggered. Still, of course, the individual also needs to learn self-management strategies as part of their (EMDR) therapy.
Conclusion
When we learn to trust that all emotions are healthy and valid, and that they reveal what we're struggling with and its solution, we can use them to create reparative, healing, and bonding experiences that strengthen relationships, communities, and the world, and reduce corrosive secondary anger.
To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.
