This is Your Brain on Anger

71 Pages·2007·2.68 MB·English

This is Your Brain on Anger
Presented by:
Diane Wagenhals, M.Ed., CFLE
Website: www.lakesidednet.com
Course Goals
We expect to help participants:
Consider how the brain responds to anger in

biochemical ways that can in turn impact the course
of one’s anger
Explore ways the brain’s biochemical reactions set up

physiological roadblocks
Appreciate the fundamental ways the brain operates,

grows and develops
Understand and manage anger in healthy, effective

ways
Respond intentionally, systematically and effectively

when others angrily confront them
Course Goals
We expect to help participants:
Facilitate or teach others about anger

Appreciate the impact of verbal aggressiveness and

abuse
Discover the effects of anger on child development

Expand ways to use the NPTI Anger Tree to connect

feelings with thoughts
Background Information
Scientists are in the process of discovering specific

connections between emotions and physiological
responses to those emotions.
Emotions often have a social context: beliefs and

behaviors that are accepted and expected by a
culture greatly influence if, when and how a group of
people feels and expresses anger.
Anger is an emotional and physiological

phenomenon.
New research shows that emotionally expressing

anger tends to exacerbate, not lessen, it.
Brain Development
The cortex is where logic and judgment reside; the

thinking part of the brain.
The cortex is located on the top area of the brain,

with the pre-frontal cortex being the area right
behind one’s forehead.
The limbic system is the emotional part of the brain.

The limbic system is located lower in the brain and is

considered to be a more primitive area than the
cortex.
When someone is emotionally experiencing and

expressing anger, they are not in the thinking part of
the brain.
Brain Development
A small structure in the limbic system is the

amygdala, which is “the sentry” of the brain.
The amygdala is a storehouse for emotional

memories.
The amygdala is the area responsible for the “fight

or flight” emotional reactions.
The amygdala instantaneously checks in with the

hippocampus and other parts of the brain
responsible for storing memories.
All incoming data from the world passes through the

amygdala where decisions are made as to whether it
goes to the cortex or limbic area.
Brain Development
If there is enough of an emotional charge created by

incoming data, the amygdala can override the
cortex.
The person will now react from the lower brain area

(limbic).
When under extreme threat the person will react

from the midbrain.
The amygdala “charges into action without regard for

the consequences” because it is not able to consider
potential impact.
Goleman (author of Emotional Intelligence) calls this

an “amygdala hijacking.”
Hormones of Anger
The amygdala has the power to flood the brain with

hormones called catecholamines that cause physical
and emotional alarm.
The first surge of hormones creates a rush of energy

to prepare the person for fight or flight.
The impact of this hormone can last several minutes.

The thinking part of the brain may not be engaged

when a person becomes violent in words or actions
because of these hormones.
Hormones of Anger
It can take an average of 20 minutes for a person

who has experienced an angry state of arousal to
calm themselves, to move from the limbic to the
cortex area.
A second hormonal response is adrenocortical

arousal whose impact can last for hours and even
days.
Having this hormone that lasts so long in the body

can explain why someone has an initial, powerful
anger reaction, seems to calm down, but then can
have a huge flare-up later that is disproportionate to
the situation.
Dr. Bruce Perry
“Any factors that increase the activity or

reactivity of the brainstem (e.g. chronic,
traumatic stress) or decrease the moderating
capacity of the limbic or cortical areas (e.g.
neglect, brain injury, mental retardation,
Alzheimer’s, alcohol intoxication) will increase
an individual’s aggression, impulsivity and
capacity to be violent.”