Anger and rage are pervasive in modern society, but they are also taboo emotions. Many people learn in childhood that anger is “bad”, and our society reinforces this notion in many ways. Consequently, many people repress or “bottle up” their anger and rage. This is particularly true of people struggling with mental health conditions. When we repress our anger and rage the energy of these emotions gets pushed into the body where the cells and tissues of our bodies are forced to hold it. If these energies are not dissipated or transformed, the body forms tight contractions to keep the anger and rage from moving— and it does this to keep these difficult emotions out of our awareness. These body contractions are known as body armor (a term coined by Wilhelm Reich, MD), as the body literally becomes tougher and tougher with more and more repressed difficult emotions. And unconscious anger, rage and hatred are prime drivers of depression and many mental health conditions.

It is important to realize that anger is not a “bad” emotion and is vital to our psychological well-being if we are to navigate life successfully. This is particularly true in boundary setting. We need our anger to know when our boundaries have been violated and when to take appropriate action. Indeed, people who are cut off from their anger generally have very poor boundaries. (Of course, we don’t “awaken” our anger and rage for the purposes of hurting others or causing mayhem and destruction in the world).

Repressed anger, rage, and hatred “gum up” the energy pathways of the body and cause us to feel disassociated and ungrounded. We almost always will be anxious in this state (one may notice that after a good anger release our anxiety generally lessens and sometimes lessens quite dramatically). Anger, rage, and hatred held in the heart chakra (4th energy center) can prevent our life force from appropriately descending lower into the body and can serve as a defense to deeper layers of sadness (that we don’t want to feel, or that we don’t even know is there). The following module reviews information on this important topic: