Posted by mist on November 20, 2001, at 0:17:31
In reply to Re: discharging anger, posted by wendy b. on November 19, 2001, at 23:15:22
Wendy, thanks for your post. I'm sorry about the reaction you got from your family members in the situation you mentioned! I wanted to clarify something, which is that one-sided blasting of one party to another isn't what I meant. I meant fighting where both sides are equally involved. These kinds of fights kind of escalate. The physical analogy is one person gives the other a little push, the other pushes back maybe a tiny bit harder, the first one shoves the other one with more force (angry energy) and it builds—but they are both equally and willingly participating. If this is done (its verbal equivalent, of course) without things being said that are meant to destroy the other person's self-esteem, on an occassional basis it can serve the purpose of clearing the air and releasing anger. But both sides have to be comfortable with it and immediately drop the anger after it's over (which is easier to do when one doesn't hold the belief that fighting is always a terrible thing and anyone who fights with them is not their friend, etc.)As for me, I don't know if I have a lot of anger or not at this point, although maybe that's because it's all "turned inward" and just making itself known through my depression.
poster:mist
thread:14065
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011117/msgs/14104.html