Hi folks,

I would like to pick up a point that Kimmy made in the 'Drug Questions' section, on a thread about alcohol and drugs.

Kimmy said that taking anger out on a pillow isn't much help to her, as there is no result. I agree with this.

I think we have to make a distinction here between the real world and the world of well meaning advice that we sufferers tend to live in. In the real world people do take their anger out on each other. We see it every day, in cars, in shops, at football games, in bars, and sadly in the home.

We are surrounded by endless images of people 'getting even' with each other, usually hero figures such as Bruce Willis and Arnie. This stuff is deep in our culture and our anthropological history. If some guy threatens us in a dark alley, there is a great satisfaction in punching him in the nose and leaving him on the sidewalk. This is the real world.

In this world, the person who constantly bottles up their anger, suppresses it for years and ends up in therapy, punching pillows, is seen by many people as a hopeless loser. I'm not saying this is my view, just that many people think this way.

It is hard to see how any kind of role play is going to move the mountain of anger coming from abuse, mental illness, and/or repeated disappointments in life. I think that we need to find a way of redirecting this stuff, realising that we are not going to be able discharge it in the regular way, we are not going to get 'even' with the world.

I use creativity, going out to poetry slams and telling the world about my life in the poems. One guy once came up to me after an event and said - "You're good, you tell it like it is." There could be no greater complement for me. The Scottish comic, Billy Connolly, had an abusive father, and he says, "You can forgive, but you must never forget. The truth must be told." I don't read under my own name, out of respect for my extended family, but other than that, I pull no punches.

It's good.

What do other people do to clear out this stuff?

Cheers, Myzen.