People with anger issues tend to get excited over expressing rage, or getting angry with little to no cause. Anger is a common emotion and may be healthy to express, however uncontrolled anger can be dangerous for the individual or those around him or her.
Anger can express itself in aggressive or passive ways. Aggressive anger can manifest itself in bullying, physical or emotional abuse, destruction of objects, or threatening/ scaring people. Passive anger looks like giving someone the ‘cold shoulder’, avoiding conflict, psychological manipulation, self-blame, or setting yourself or others for defeat.
A Success Story
“In my youth, I was a very hurt, depressed and empty soul. My father left home when I was six years old. My mother had many unhealthy relationships, and eventually settled into a long-term, violent, and abusive relationship. The police showing up at our front door was a regular occurrence. I had no real fatherly guide in my life, and I always took second place to my mother’s relationships. At first, I tried to protect my mother from the constant abuse, but later often got caught in the middle of their fights.
“Unfortunately, to escape the violence, I turned to drugs instead of God. I found myself with a group of friends who accepted me. I didn’t tell my family where I was. They weren’t interested anyway. With these friends, I began to smoke, use marijuana and experiment with LSD.
“Then the day came, and I thank God for it, that I was arrested. Everything came to a screeching halt. I was charged with nine drug counts, for delivering cocaine, marijuana, and LSD. My life was about to change. I knew I had to seek help, and decided to attend an inpatient detoxification center for two weeks. While in the inpatient center, I learned of a former heroin addict that graduated from Adult & Teen Challenge that was still sober. I decided to give Adult & Teen Challenge a try. I found it very difficult at first.
“It was about one month into the program that I began to wake up to the gravity of my situation. I was facing a very lengthy prison term, if I was raised to adult court (which the prosecutor was determined to do). I was only 17 ½ years old!
“At Adult & Teen Challenge, God removed my desire to do drugs. He miraculously influenced the decisions of the court to allow me to continue in the program. God also gave me a sympathetic and compassionate Judge who took an interest in me, and told me so. During my time in Adult & Teen Challenge, my case was miraculously dismissed – no jail time!
“Since graduation, I’ve joined the Air Force, married and have two wonderful boys.”
