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Anger, Hostility, and Violent Behavior
Topic Overview
Anger signals your body to prepare for a fight. This reaction is commonly classified as “fight or flight.” When you get angry, adrenaline and other hormones are released into the bloodstream. Then your blood pressure goes up, your heart beats faster, and you breathe faster.
Many people mistakenly believe that anger is always a bad emotion and that expressing anger is not okay. In reality, anger can be a normal response to everyday events. It is the right response to any situation that is a real threat. Anger can be a positive driving force behind our actions. Anger can also be a symptom of something else, depending on how often a person feels angry and how angry the person feels.
Hostility is being ready for a fight all the time. Hostile people are often stubborn, impatient, hotheaded, or have an “attitude.” They are frequently in fights or may say they feel like hitting something or someone. Hostility isolates you from other people.
Anger and constant hostility keep your blood pressure high and increase your chances of having another health problem, such as depression, heart attack, or a stroke.
Teens who say they often feel angry and hostile also more often feel anxious, stressed, sad, and fatigued. They have more problems with alcohol and drugs, smoking, and eating disorders than teens who do not have high levels of anger.
Violent behavior often begins with verbal threats or relatively minor incidents, but over time it can involve physical harm. Violent behavior is very damaging, both physically and emotionally. Violent behavior can include physical, verbal, or sexual abuse of an intimate partner (domestic violence), a child (child abuse), or an older adult (elder abuse).
Violence causes more injury and death in children, teenagers, and young adults than infectious disease, cancer, or birth defects. Murder, suicide, and violent injury are the leading causes of death in children. Violence with guns is one of the leading causes of death of children and teenagers in the United States.
If you are angry or hostile or if you have violent behavior, it is important to find help. You can learn ways to control your feelings and actions.
If you have been abused or assaulted, contact your doctor as soon as possible. If you have questions about how soon you should be seen, you can check your symptoms.
Check Your Symptoms
The medical assessment of symptoms is based on the body parts you have.
- If you are transgender or nonbinary, choose the sex that matches the body parts (such as ovaries, testes, prostate, breasts, penis, or vagina) you now have in the area where you are having symptoms.
- If your symptoms aren’t related to those organs, you can choose the gender you identify with.
- If you have some organs of both sexes, you may need to go through this triage tool twice (once as “male” and once as “female”). This will make sure that the tool asks the right questions for you.
Many things can affect how your body responds to a symptom and what kind of care you may need. These include:
- Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker.
- Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
- Medicines you take. Certain medicines, herbal remedies, and supplements can cause symptoms or make them worse.
- Recent health events, such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious.
- Your health habits and lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.
Try Home Treatment
You have answered all the questions. Based on your answers, you may be able to take care of this problem at home.
- Try home treatment to relieve the symptoms.
- Call your doctor if symptoms get worse or you have any concerns (for example, if symptoms are not getting better as you would expect). You may need care sooner.
The risk of a suicide attempt is highest if:
- You have the means to kill yourself, such as a weapon or medicines.
- You have set a time and place to do it.
- You think there is no other way to solve the problem or end the pain.
Call 911 Now
Based on your answers, you need emergency care.
Call911or other emergency services now.
Seek Care Now
Based on your answers, you may need care right away. The problem is likely to get worse without medical care.
- Call your doctor now to discuss the symptoms and arrange for care.
- If you cannot reach your doctor or you don’t have one, seek care in the next hour.
- You do not need to call an ambulance unless:
- You cannot travel safely either by driving yourself or by having someone else drive you.
- You are in an area where heavy traffic or other problems may slow you down.
Seek Care Today
Based on your answers, you may need care soon. The problem probably will not get better without medical care.
- Call your doctor today to discuss the symptoms and arrange for care.
- If you cannot reach your doctor or you don’t have one, seek care today.
- If it is evening, watch the symptoms and seek care in the morning.
- If the symptoms get worse, seek care sooner.
Home Treatment
If you are angry, hostile, or violent, it is important to find help. You can learn ways to control your feelings and actions.
There are some things you can do to try to control any feelings of anger or hostility and avoid violence.
- Think before you act. Take time to stop and cool down when you feel yourself becoming angry. Count to 10, or practice some other form of mental relaxation.
- Recognize feelings that often lead to angry outbursts. Anger and hostility may be a symptom of unhappy feelings or depression about your job, your relationship, or other aspects of your personal life.
- Come up with a reasonable explanation of why you are angry. If a person triggers your anger, suggest to yourself that perhaps the person is having a bad day.
- Avoid situations that trigger your anger, such as doing errands at less-busy times if standing in line bothers you.
- Express anger in a healthy way:
- Go for a short walk or jog.
- Draw, paint, or listen to music to release the anger.
- Write in a daily journal.
- Use “I” statements, not “you” statements, to discuss your anger. Say “I don’t feel valued when my needs are not being met” instead of “You make me mad when you are so inconsiderate.”
- Take care of yourself.
- Exercise regularly.
- Eat a balanced diet. Do not skip meals.
- Try to get 8 hours of sleep each night.
- Limit your use of alcohol, and do not use illegal drugs.
- Practice a relaxation technique such as yoga, meditation, or tai chi.
- Explore other resources that may be available through your job or your community.
- Contact your human resources department at work to see whether you have services available through an employee assistance program.
- Contact your local hospital, mental health facility, or health department to see what types of programs or support groups are available in your area.
Symptoms to watch for during home treatment
Call your doctor to evaluate your feelings if your anger, hostility, or violent behavior becomes more frequent or severe.
Prevention
To prevent anger and hostility and to avoid violence:
- Seek positive ways to resolve problems. Arguing can be okay, even healthy, as long as it does not turn violent.
- Think before you act. Take time to stop and cool down when you feel yourself becoming angry. Count to 10, or practice some other form of mental relaxation.
- Take steps to lead a healthy life.
- Engage in some type of regular physical activity. Exercise is one of the best ways to release all types of stress, including anger. A brisk walk is a good way to start. For more information, see the topic Fitness.
- Eat a balanced diet. Remember to drink plenty of water.
- Establish a healthy sleep pattern. Try to get the same amount of sleep each night.
- Limit your use of alcohol, and do not use other drugs, such as cocaine, crack, or methamphetamines. Alcohol and drugs may make your feelings of anger and hostility worse and make them even harder to handle. For more information, see the topic Alcohol and Drug Problems.
- Practice a relaxation technique such as yoga, meditation, or tai chi.
- Teach your children that anger is not a solution.
- Give your children consistent love and attention.
- Settle arguments without yelling or hitting.
- Do not use physical discipline, such as spanking or other forms of corporal punishment. If you need help controlling your children, consider taking a course in parenting skills.
- Limit your child’s exposure to TV, movies, and video games. Watch television with your children to discuss or limit violent content.
- Do not keep guns in your home. If you have guns in your home, unload them and lock them up. Lock ammunition in a separate place. Keep guns away from children.
Preparing For Your Appointment
You can help your doctor diagnose and treat your condition by being prepared to answer the following questions:
- How long have you felt you had a problem with anger, hostility, or violent behavior?
- What makes you feel better or worse? What have you tried to control your feelings or actions?
- Is your use of alcohol or illegal drugs leading to your feelings of anger or hostility or violence? Are you using alcohol or drugs as an attempt at “self-medication” to relieve your symptoms?
- Have you or anyone else in your family ever been diagnosed with depression or other mental problems?
- Do work or relationship issues contribute to your feelings of anger? Think about these issues before your visit.
- Have you experienced any recent major life changes, such as a move, new job, divorce, marriage, or retirement?
- What medicines do you use, both prescription and nonprescription?
- Do you have access to guns or other violent weapons?
- Do you have any health risks?
While waiting for your appointment, it may be helpful to keep a diary of your feelings.
Current as of: June 26, 2019
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney MD – Family Medicine & Kathleen Romito MD – Family Medicine & H. Michael O’Connor MD – Emergency Medicine & David Messenger MD
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