How to Reduce Anger Rumination and Expression

Because of our sociocultural learning about the coming of a new calendar year, humans' thoughts seem to become easily consumed with improving ourselves or meeting new goals over the course of a new year. Just as emotions may run high or run low during the holiday season at the end of a calendar year, the promise of a new beginning at the start of a new year can also have an emotional impact. Therefore it's not uncommon to see fitness facilities, money management strategies, and new recommended eating regimens pervasively appear at year's end to catch the attention of people who may want to make changes. But what if one's goal is to gain better control of anger in cultures comprised of frequent frustration and stress?

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Behavioral Activation and Behavioral Inhibition Systems

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Activation System (BAS) represent two neural motivational systems that regulate our sensitivity to being punished (BIS) and our sensitivity to receiving rewards (BAS). These systems typically work just fine to help us regulate our learned and natural emotion-based behaviors, yet, some individuals do have difficulty with emotional regulation (DER). DER has been defined as an inability to effectively identify, understand, and regulate emotional experiences in distressing situations. DER can also influence the relationship between personality and the overall features of people's mental health (Khoshfetrat, Darina, & Fassbender, 2022).

Considering non-disordered individuals who want to achieve a motivational goal, research suggests that they may not need to have a specific incentive or reward to stay motivated to stay on task to complete a goal (Kuratomi, Johnsen, Kitagami et al. (2022). The pursuit of a goal may persist if the goal is naturally connected to a BAS feeling of internal satisfaction. Humans may naturally experience internal satisfaction from better regulation of anger.

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Anger-Related Problems

Anger is a basic emotional reaction to the human perception of threat. Feeling anger can lead to reactions such as anger rumination (thinking excessively about an angry act) and anger expression (acting out aggressively).

Anger rumination and anger expression are related because the more that individuals ruminate, the more likely they are to then take aggressive action. When the neural system of Behavioral Inhibition is activated, anger rumination increases. Anger expression increases when the system of Behavioral Activation kicks in. Research showed that BIS has an impact on anger rumination, as it is influenced by people's difficulty in regulating emotions. So, researchers explained that the BIS activates more readily for people who experience difficulty with emotional regulation and then relates to their showing an increase in excessively angry thoughts.

The Goodness of Intrinsic Motivation

Although anger is a logically necessary emotion that evolved to promote our survival in the face of threat, it isn't a pleasant emotion to feel! Being able to regulate it appropriately is an important goal. Takeaways based on what we know about intrinsic motivation are as follows:

• Natural enjoyment of serenity, peace, and calm are intrinsic reasons to regulate anger rumination and expression.
• Rather than pursuing anger-reduction goals by rewarding oneself with external rewards (e.g., "If I don't lose my temper all week, I'll reward myself at the end of the week with a trip to the spa"), research has shown that the power of intrinsic motivation can work to keep one motivated towards the goal.
• We enjoy the mind and body benefits of low stress, peace, and the joy of avoidance of triggers that anger us. Going forward into the year 2023, let the pleasure of deep sighs, a more relaxed brain, and primarily parasympathetic nervous system dominance throughout the year be your intrinsic motivation to regulate feelings of anger.