[Coffeecoffeecoffee]

For the past couple of months (4+), I have found myself unusually quick to anger/rage. EVERYTHING pisses me off -from being asked to repeat something I had previously said, to seeing someone act like a fool. For example, the other day I was at a Panera and a teenage girl dropped her tray -the tray broke from the fall and instead of picking it up or cleaning up her mess she started laughing like a moron and left the mess on the floor. Now, I was just waiting for my sandwich to be ready but this really pissed me off. I don't know why I am so angry lately but I have to constantly hold myself back from hurting people or yelling at them -- I have never acted on my anger in my life but the mere thought or desire to cause harm on another really bothers me. I have no idea why I am so angry and seemingly rage-driven but I hate it, it makes me angry that I'm so angry.

[-jimi-]

I cannot know your feelings, but when I lose my temper easily it is almost always fatigue brought on by stress or depression. I sometimes don't even know I tense up about stuff that is going on or that I feel down until something tips the scale. I simply don't understand how tired my mind is, but it shows on my patience. I usually have really good patience.

[LucyD]

I was constantly getting angry for awhile until I made a conscious effort to change it. I pictured all of my anger attached to my head in big balloons and I cut the strings and let them fly away and blow up in mid air. I kept doing this until I stopped feeling so angry. I also tried to cultivate pleasant feelings and having them.

[eskielover]

Like jimi....I find myself easier to get set off when I'm really tired....but.....

I was living in a bad marriage for 33 years & the issues that my H kept doing kept piling up my anger.....& even before that when I lived at home with my parents....there were so many things that they did that had a bad negative effect on my life & I would end up jumping all over them with my yelling...especially at my mother. I realized that my parents though they didn't know what they were really doing were great at triggering issues & it was impossible NOT to react to them.....then I ended up married to someone who was way too much like my father that I promised myself I would NEVER do & all that I went through in my marriage just triggered the triggers that had already been set off in my growing up years.

For me it's like when a glass gets filled up with water over time & then it's bulging & that one last drop makes it spill all over......our emotions are the same. If there have been things going on in your life that have been building up it could be that it's just been over the last 4+ months that you have finally been pushed to that overload point.

I finally left that bad situation & it was amazing how quickly I did calm down. For awhile it took really major frustrations that would trigger my anger...but now, over the last 8 years, I have finally mellowed out completely. I was honestly afraid that the me I had become was the me that was me....but I'm so glad it wasn't because I do like being calm & not overreacting.....but my overreacting that I had come to experience felt NORMAL at the time.

[Thunder Bow]

I hope that employee got fired. You had a reason to be angry in that case. Just don't add-on other things and feelings to your reactions.

[ManOfConstantSorrow]

Anger, what is it for? Fight and flight? Not much in everyday life is some important that you need to fight/flight, so perhaps there is something in your life that has predisposed you to leap to arms every time something or someone triggers you?

I used to be like this until I discovered Citalopram and now I am amazingly calm.

[festidump]

When I am not depressed, anger is only a millisecond away and can come on for no reason. I didn´t realise that my behaviour had been this way for years until recently and I am finding it hard too to find a way of not feeling so destructive, angry and hateful. Will definitely try the balloon releasing technique, visualisation has helped me in the past. Good luck too!