Rehab your rage

We all know someone who seems to always be involved in a conflict. They seem to love to argue, are always itching for a fight, or purposely push all the right buttons to get a rise out of those around them.

What makes some people so constant in their anger? The answer may be biological.

When we are in the middle of conflict, our “fight or flight” instinct kicks in to help us respond to the perceived danger. This response is initiated by the release of the stress hormone cortisol by the adrenal gland.

While cortisol is important to a healthy system, it can also produce a chemical “high” that can be addictive.

Normally, cortisol lowers once danger is gone but if a person constantly exposes themselves to high stress situations such as those caused by anger and conflict, their system never completely processes the cortisol. This causes the biological system to remain polluted, so to speak, with the excess chemical.

According to Debbie Mandel, stress management specialist and author of "Addicted to Stress," once we become more and more exposed to high levels of cortisol caused by increased conflict and stress, “like a drug addict, (we) need a bigger fix all the time.”

Though it’s hard to avoid anger and stress, we don’t have to become adrenaline junkies.

There are different strategies that can be used to kick the habit and work on keeping both anger and cortisol release at bay.

Enjoying more laughter in life can help reduce the stress caused by cortisol and increase endorphins that are healthier for our minds and bodies. Practicing mindfulness through meditation or prayer and focusing on supportive personal connections instead of toxic friendships works towards reducing stress, a major contributor to cortisol production.

Just like any addiction, kicking your anger is a process. Once the need to turn every interaction into a fight mellows out, the adverse effects of cortisol addiction can be cut off.

We can’t accomplish it simply by going “cold turkey” but anger addiction can be kicked like any other bad habit!