ABSTRACT
Our model of anger sees it as primarily a negative emotion, connected biologically to a perceived threat. The response of anger is one of ‘fight’ rather than ‘flight’. If that is true, it becomes clear that there are numerous aspects of infancy, toddlerhood, childhood and adolescence in which the youngster is likely to perceive that they are being ‘attacked’. Remember, the important thing is that the person perceives themselves as being ‘attacked’ – it is almost irrelevant whether this corresponds in any way to what is really happening. It is also worth pointing out that a world that does not immediately comply with the child’s strongly felt desires can be seen as needing to be fought against desperately, and sometimes viciously. The ‘world’, that the parents, or brothers and sisters, ‘should’ not, ‘must’ not, thwart me from getting the things I see as ‘mine’. It simply must not give me anything I don’t want either. So there are going to be numerous occasions throughout our early years when issues of ‘control’ and ‘power’ are, potentially, occasions for frustration, which may then spill over into anger, either with or without feelings of being persecuted and singled out for attack.
