Anger Amnesia

This is similar to a couple of other threads on here but a little different. I have amnesia about getting angry. My ehole life I never felt very angry but lately I've been having rages triggered by a lot of things. It happens when I think people are being unfair, are lying, or trying to trick me. I want to bash their heads in. I've lost control a few times and damaged property. Afterwards I forget that it happened. My husband is there for a lit if and reminds me of the rages which ive collectively forgotten. I may remember that SOMETHING bad happened but have no details. I'm told I'm not myself and irrational. Also, I'll forget small anger too. If I'm a little angry with someone and then walk away, I'll calm down and come back having totally forgotten I was angry with them

Does anyone else ever have this happen to them?

I've had the same things happen when i get angry at someone. It is usually with friends who I work with. I will completely rage, and say things to them that i can't remember later on, and either they or someone else has to tell me what I said or what I did. Sometimes it has come out in physical violence, and sometimes verbal. I usually black out in these anger fits. Just know you are not the only one out there that gets these feelings.

When you 'come back' from an anger fit do you remember any snip-its of what happened or you have no idea where you went or what you did completely? I myself usually only remember small visual things ( one 1 or 2 minutes ) of an episode. And I can't remember at all what i said or what i heard, even loud sounds of things breaking when i get really mad.

Son wrote:Does anyone else ever have this happen to them?

Yes, for me it is part of my Dissociative Identity Disorder... Perhaps it has dissociative origins for you too?

I once heard a speaker explain that amnesia during rages happens due to a neurotransmitter, maybe glutamate? Don't remember which one. Anyway, it's not uncommon . . .

This has started happening to me alot as well & I have no idea why... I would like to know what it is called.. if it is even identified as something.. :/

I think my husband has this problem. He has over the years had extremely angry outbursts which seem to be extremely disproportionate to the situation. He has never apologised. He is now starting to have these outbursts with our children over sometimes quite small things. I have only just realised that he doesn't seem to remember what he has said as his recall of events is so different to what has actually happened. This is ruining his relationship with his children, and all but ruined ours. Our daughter (17) hardly talks to him. What should I do?

BananaKey wrote:I think my husband has this problem. He has over the years had extremely angry outbursts which seem to be extremely disproportionate to the situation. He has never apologised. He is now starting to have these outbursts with our children over sometimes quite small things. I have only just realised that he doesn't seem to remember what he has said as his recall of events is so different to what has actually happened. This is ruining his relationship with his children, and all but ruined ours. Our daughter (17) hardly talks to him. What should I do?

I would encourage him to get professional help ASAP. There are a lot of possible causes for these episodes and they can be very destructive to all relationships involved. Good luck!

salted lipstick wrote:

Son wrote:Does anyone else ever have this happen to them?

Yes, for me it is part of my Dissociative Identity Disorder... Perhaps it has dissociative origins for you too?

Yes, for me it is part of my Dissociative Identity Disorder... Perhaps it has dissociative origins for you too?[/quote]

It's difficult for me to say since I'm recently dx bipolar, and the rage could just be plain ol' rage. But the fact that it feels so separate from "me," and that I have a couple other states that are dissociated makes me wonder.

Lookng4help wrote:I've had the same things happen when i get angry at someone. It is usually with friends who I work with. I will completely rage, and say things to them that i can't remember later on, and either they or someone else has to tell me what I said or what I did. Sometimes it has come out in physical violence, and sometimes verbal. I usually black out in these anger fits. Just know you are not the only one out there that gets these feelings.

When you 'come back' from an anger fit do you remember any snip-its of what happened or you have no idea where you went or what you did completely? I myself usually only remember small visual things ( one 1 or 2 minutes ) of an episode. And I can't remember at all what i said or what i heard, even loud sounds of things breaking when i get really mad.

When I come back form the anger fit, I just kind of lose awareness of it. I can't even say how quickly I totally forget about it but it can be within an hour... my guy will bring it up and I'll just have a vague recollection of the event without any details of what was said, done, in what order etc. usually, when I sleep that evening and wake up the next morning I'll have totally blanked the memory of it and be really surprised when my guy acts distant or expresses hurt feelings. I go along with it just because it's happened so often, not because I remember what I did.