Do You See Red?

[Lilhelp]

Just wondering if anyone with anger problems sees colors when they go into that rage thing?

I've never seen "red" as you hear so much about. Rather I see "white". At the point when I snap I actually see this burning white color and consciously I know that means well I had it and here I go. There's no stopping it after that.

Thanks in advance. Maybe I'm just a weirdo, but I call it "hot white". I'm mortified by it. I don't understand it.

 

[braveheart]

By 'mortified' do you mean that it terrifies you, frightens you, paralyses you in some way?

I can understand that it would be frightening.

I tend to get tunnel vision when my defensive anger and hostility erupts when triggered, its part of the whole 'dissociation/flashback thing', as it were. I don't see colours, but my sight is effected, and its very disorientating and distressing. I'm working on internal dialogue to help slow my mind down in such situations, and that is gradually helping.

 

[Retired]

I can understand how a rage reaction can be disturbing, after the event. Having heard about and even experienced rage reactions, which in my case are Tourette related, it's almost like our minds go into an auto pilot mode.

It seems that rage is borne out of frustration, when one's frustration seems to reach a point of inability to cope. The part of our mind that thinks rationally seems to become disconnected from the "action" part of our thinking and we act irrationally.

I wonder why we hear about more types of rage nowadays than we did in the past.

There is road rage, parking lot rage, airport rage, sports rage, restaurant rage.....

Should people who behave badly during these rage reactions be held accountable or is rage a legitimate mental disorder?

 

[Lilhelp]

By 'mortified' do you mean that it terrifies you, frightens you, paralyses you in some way?

Hey bravheart, No it doesn't frighten me exactly. I mean I'm consciously embarassed by it when it's about to happen. I'm ashamed I can't handle it or don't know how to stop it from coming on.

Steve, that's exactly what it is born from FRUSTRATION.

Good question about all the rages out there. I think I'd say a no to it being a specific mental disorder only because there'd be an awful lot of people walking around not being held accountable for some deadly things. If that makes sense?

 

[Retired]

I'm ashamed I can't handle it or don't know how to stop it from coming on.

There is no reason to feel shame. Would you feel shame if you had a tummy ache?

I don't know if rage reactions are classified as a specific disorder, but I do believe there are strategies one can adopt to help control this behaviour.

Realizing you need help with a certain behaviour is probably the first and most important step to making modifications.

Have you ever talked to a mental health provider about learning ways to modify rage reaction behaviour?