I think I need help

I am not an angry person, 99% of the time I am happy.
But recently i have lost my cool on a few occasions and became quite violent. I am embarrassed by some of the things i have done in this past year, but i don't seem to have any control of it. I am beginning to lose people close to me and have a bit of a reputation of being an idiot now.

I don't know what comes over me, i seem to just see red and lose the plot. i have stopped drinking because i thought that was the issue, but its happened a couple of times since, once with road rage and secondly i misread a situation where i thought a friend of mine was in trouble.

Anyone have any advice on how to stop it?

I have read on the net, to take a deep breath and so on, but i don't even have time to think about my actions, it just seems to be a reaction.

Is it almost like you have absolutely ZERO control? And like you are watching yourself do it?

I definitely understand how you feel, that's been happening to me lately too. It's been upsetting friends, because most of them have never even seen me angry before but then I just explode- at little things usually. And very violent too. I don't even understand why I get mad over the things, I'm usually very calm about even larger things that happen.

When you do start to get angry like that, if possible, try to remove yourself from the situation, thats what I do- for example, a few days ago, when I got raging mad at my housemate, I locked myself in my room and put on loud music to distract myself until I calmed down enough to talk to her. It was really hard to stay in there though. I also try to think of things that made me happy- I know, cliche, but it works and calms me down since it's thinking about that rather than the thing making me mad. I also find punching a pillow or biting something hard works for me... or kicking the wall sometimes, but that's not very good either.

I hope my suggestions/techniques help you. =]

But... when you thought your friend was in trouble, the reaction was probly very justified to have happened- after all, you were probly afraid for him!

(also, drinking's not a factor for me, either. It alctually helps calm me down, which is weird.)

Thanks for your reply Bipolar_Cat its good to know there are others with similar problems.

Like you say, the little things seem to trigger me, while things that other people would get angry with don't necessarily affect me.

I really have to learn to deal with these reactions, although i have decided to stop drinking as its probably not helping my state of mind.

-- Mon Apr 22, 2013 3:58 pm --

aliveatnight wrote:Is it almost like you have absolutely ZERO control? And like you are watching yourself do it?

Hi there, its exactly like having no control.

I wouldn't say its like watching myself do it, it all seems to be over do fast like a bit of a blur, then i'm back to my normal self, reflecting on what the hell just happened.

northlock wrote: aliveatnight wrote:Is it almost like you have absolutely ZERO control? And like you are watching yourself do it?



Hi there, its exactly like having no control.

I wouldn't say its like watching myself do it, it all seems to be over do fast like a bit of a blur, then i'm back to my normal self, reflecting on what the hell just happened.

I have anger that is without control, so I know where you're coming from. I've found that I need an insane amount of self control to try and fix this (although I'm so, so far from being "healed"). Trying to get away from the trigger is the best thing, and then trying to keep yourself under tight control if you're trapped. It's hard, but I believe that you could do it.