Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatrist in the Washington area and an expert on depression and anger, when reviewing the driver who kept threatening me says, drivers who repeatedly tailgate (紧跟着某车驾驶),trying to pressure the cars in front to move faster or get out of the way, "are always sitting on their arteries," which constricts in response to stress hormones that spew forth from their adrenal
46){{U}}It is hard to say whether rage is now more common than it used to be or we are simply now more aware of it. given high-profile cases like mass shootings by children and evidence that chronically angry people endanger their health, their lobs and their personal relationships.{{/U}}
For example, in a 25-year follow-up study of University of North Carolina medical students, Dr. John Barefoot, now at Duke, found that those who scored highest in hostility on a standard personality rest were nearly five rimes as likely to die of heart disease as their less hostile classmates.
47){{U}}Certainly pressures built into many modern lives—urban, suburban and rural— give many opportunities for latent anger to erupt{{/U}}. But that does not mean frequent hostile outbursts are either inevitable or productive. As Dr. Rosenthal wrote, "In most everyday situations we are more likely to pay a greater price for losing our temper than for not getting our licks in quickly enough." The advice to count to 10, and if you're still angry, count to 100 before you take any action, is far from an old wife's tale.
Dr. Rosenthal said the driver threatening me appeared to attribute hostile motives to other people. In his mind I deliberately made his life difficult and he was determined to teach me a lesson.
Furthermore, he said, common misperceptions often fuel anger. Some people, especially those who are depressed, see hostility where it does not exist. 48){{U}}They believe—Incorrectly—that others feel hostile or critical toward them and tend to defend themselves, in the process actually provoking hostility and a vicious cycle of anger{{/U}}
49){{U}}Others operate from a misperception that the world should be other than it is and become enraged when disturbed by the ordinary hassles and inconveniences of everyday life—an airport delay, a traffic jam, a person who breaks into a line.{{/U}}
Dr. Rosenthal told of a friend who was often angered by long red lights and whose wife "minds him gently that the red light doesn"t care, so he might as well save his fury." 50){{U}}The psychiatrist noted that "it is easier to change your expectations and recognize that life is often neither fair nor easy than it is to change the world."{{/U}}
Sometimes chemical influences-'-like excessive caffeine, steroids, diet drugs and antidepressants--foster irritability. If medications may be contributing to your anger, discuss this possibility with your physician.